Shield 

Mzjor Archibald  W$  utt 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE 
SHIELD 


MAJOR  ARCHIBALD  W.  BUTT,  U.  S.  A. 


BOTH  SIDES  OF 
THE  SHIELD 


BY 

MAJOR  ARCHIBALD  W.  BUTT,  U.  S.  A. 

LATE  MILITARY  AIDE  TO   THE   PRESIDENT 


WITH  A  FOREWORD   BY 

WILLIAM  H.  TAFT 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 
AND 

A  SHORT  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  AUTHOR'S  LIFE 


PHILADELPHIA  &  LONDON 

J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 

1912 


COPTEIGHT,    1905,  BY  J.   B.  L1PPINCOTT   COMPANY 
COPYRIGHT,    IQI2,   BY  J.   B.  LIPPINCOTT   COMPANY 


PUBLISHED  MAY,    191 2 


PRINTED  BY  J.   B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 

AT  THE  WASHINGTON  SQUARE  PRESS 

PHILADELPHIA,  U.  8.  A. 


PS 

B 

a.? 


PRESIDENT  TAFT'S  TRIBUTE  TO 
MAJOR  BUTT 

A  FOREWORD 

Major  Butt  was  my  Military  Aide.  He  was 
like  a  member  of  my  family,  and  I  feel  his  loss 
as  if  he  had  been  a  younger  brother.  As  in 
Manila,  as  in  Augusta,  so  in  Washington,  every 
body  knew  Archie  as  "  Archie."  It  was  not  nec 
essary  to  add  the  title  or  the  last  name.  Every 
one  knew  whom  we  meant  when  we  spoke  of 
"  Archie." 

I  cannot  enter  a  box  in  the  theatre,  I  cannot 
turn  around  in  my  rooms  in  the  White  House, 
I  cannot  go  anywhere,  that  I  do  not  expect  to 
see  his  smiling  face  and  hear  his  encouraging 
tones.  The  life  of  a  President  is  rather  isolated, 
and  those  who  are  appointed  to  live  with  him 
come  much  closer  to  him  than  they  would  filling 
a  similar  function  for  other  persons.  The  con 
sequence  is  that  the  bond  between  an  Aide  and 
a  President  is  very  close.  It  enables  the  Aide 
to  read  the  President,  I  suppose,  and  it  cer 
tainly  enables  the  President  to  read  the  Aide. 

I  first  knew  Archie  Butt  in  the  Philippines. 
He  was  then  a  volunteer  in  the  Quartermaster's 

V 

M183600 


FOREWORD 


Department,  with  the  rank  of  Captain.  He  was 
a  very  active  officer,  and  had  the  reputation  of 
being  a  very  useful  and  faithful  one.  In  the 
Quartermaster's  office  in  that  far  off  clime,  there 
were  a  great  many  favors  to  dispense  in  the  way 
of  comfort,  and  he  dispensed  them  with  justice 
and  yet  in  such  a  way  as  to  endear  him  to  every 
one  who  came  in  contact  with  him.  His  sunny 
disposition  under  conditions  that  prevailed  there 
was  marvellous ;  for  in  the  Tropics,  and  under 
the  somewhat  trying  circumstances  existing  when 
he  was  there,  depression  of  mind  and  spirits  was 
a  symptom  of  the  climate. 

He  came  to  Washington  after  having  been  ap 
pointed  as  a  regular  officer  in  the  Quartermas 
ter's  Department,  taking  the  important  duty  of 
Depot  Quartermaster  at  the  Capital.  It  was 
there  that  he  attracted  the  attention  of  President 
Roosevelt,  who  made  him  his  Aide.  He  was 
loyal  to  the  President  and  his  family  while  he 
served  him,  and  retained  their  love  always.  Then 
he  came  to  me  and  into  my  family,  and  became 
one  of  us,  and  was  as  much  interested  in  the 
welfare  of  each  as  if  he  had  been  a  son  or  a 
brother.  When  he  entered  a  room,  bad  weather 
or  good  weather,  his  sunny  disposition  seemed 
to  light  it  up  and  to  make  life  somewhat  more 
cheerful  and  more  hopeful.  He  had  a  great  deal 


FOREWORD 


of  that  lovable  human  nature  that  makes  his 
memory  very  dear. 

Now,  the  duty  of  an  Aide  to  a  President  is 
very  hard  to  fill.  It  calls  for  great  self-sacri 
fice.  A  President  sees  but  very  few  people  con 
tinuously  in  a  confidential  way,  and  his  Aide  has 
to  be  with  him  all  the  time — when  he  is  out  of 
humor  and  when  he  is  in  humor,  when  he  is  silent 
and  when  he  is  talking.  The  Aide  has  to  do  the 
best  he  can  to  contribute  to  the  President's  peace 
of  mind,  and  that  is  a  burden  that  no  one  knows 
the  weight  of  unless  he  has  been  an  Aide. 

An  Aide  has  to  stand  a  good  deal  because 
everybody  assumes  that  what  can  be  said  to  the 
Chief  can  be  said  to  the  Aide  without  hurting  his 
feelings.  Archie  had  sentiments  and  views  grow 
ing  out  of  his  environment  and  his  birth  in  the 
South  that  might  easily  have  been  shocked,  and 
perhaps  were  sometimes,  by  remarks  that  were 
made  to  me  as  a  Northerner,  but  he  never  be 
trayed  the  slightest  feeling  on  that  subject,  and 
always  reserved  himself  until  in  the  quiet  of  con 
versation  I  saw  how  fixed  his  views  were  on  cer 
tain  subjects,  and  how  he  loved  the  South,  and 
loved  the  people  of  the  South,  white  and  black. 

He  told  me  a  story  once  that  illustrated  his 
feeling  in  that  line.  He  said  he  was  in  Manila 
as  a  quartermaster,  and  had  received  orders,  or 
vii 


FOREWORD 


had  concluded,  that  he  must  cut  down  his  force. 
So  he  cut  off  two  or  three  hundred  men — Fili 
pinos,  white  men,  and  negroes — and  had  ordered 
the  soldiers  to  exclude  them  from  the  office. 
There  was  a  side  door  leading  in  from  the  wharf. 
After  he  had  gotten  them  all  out  and  was  writ 
ing  at  his  desk,  a  colored  man,  somewhat  the 
worse  for  wear,  sneaked  in  through  the  side  door, 
and  said,  "  Captain  Butt,  I  would  like  to  have  a 
position."  Captain  Butt  said,  "  What  are  you 
doing  in  here?  I  have  ordered  everybody  out. 
Get  out !  "  So  he  was  put  out.  But  in  about 
fifteen  minutes  the  same  unlikely  person  thrust 
himself  in  again.  Captain  Butt  said  to  him, 
"  Didn't  I  tell  you  before  to  get  out?"  "  Well," 
he  said,  "  now  look  here,  Captain  Butt,  you  and 
I  is  Georgians,  and  I  didn't  know  but  you  might 
give  me  a  position  just  on  that  account."  Archie 
said,  "  What  could  I  do?  I  did  not  need  him, 
but  I  had  to  put  him  on  the  force." 

Later,  Major  Butt  brought  his  mother  to 
Washington,  and  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting 
her  and  hearing  her  crisp  sentences  on  everything 
that  happened  there,  and  on  much  of  what  hap 
pened  in  Augusta.  He  loved  her  devotedly — it 
always  seemed  to  me  he  never  married  because 
he  loved  her  so,  and  the  greatest  sorrow  of  his 
life  was  when  she  left  him. 


FOREWORD 


Occasions  for  tests  like  that  of  the  going  down 
of  the  Titanic  frequently  develop  unforeseen  and 
unexpected  traits  in  men  and  make  them  heroes. 
But  with  Archie,  what  he  did  was  nothing  but 
conformity  to  a  rule  of  life,  and  it  was  just  as 
necessary  that  he  should  do  what  he  did  as  that 
he  should  suggest  to  me,  for  instance,  when  occa 
sion  arose,  some  kindly  attention  to  somebody, 
that  I  should  render  it,  and  that  he  should  be  my 
representative  in  doing  it.  On  the  deck  of  the 
Titanic  he  was  exactly  what  he  was  everywhere 
else.  After  I  heard  that  part  of  the  ship's  com 
pany  had  gone  down,  I  gave  up  hope  for  the 
rescue  of  Major  Butt,  unless  by  accident.  I  knew 
that  he  would  certainly  remain  on  the  ship's 
deck  until  every  duty  had  been  performed  and 
every  sacrifice  made  that  properly  fell  on  one 
charged,  as  he  would  feel  himself  charged,  with 
responsibility  for  the  rescue  of  others. 

The  chief  trait  of  Archie  Butt's  character  was 
loyalty  to  his  ideals,  his  cloth,  and  his  friends. 
His  character  was  a  simple  one  in  the  sense  that 
he  was  incapable  of  intrigue  or  insincerity.  He 
was  gentle  and  considerate  to  every  one,  high 
and  low.  He  never  lost,  under  any  conditions, 
his  sense  of  proper  regard  for  what  he  consid 
ered  the  respect  due  to  constituted  authority. 
He  was  an  earnest  member  of  the  Episcopal 


FOREWORD 


Church,  and  loved  that  communion.  He  had  the 
highest  ideals,  he  was  a  soldier,  every  inch  of 
him — a  most  competent  and  successful  quarter 
master,  and  a  devotee  of  his  profession. 

Archie  Butt's  character  was  single,  it  was 
straightforward.  He  had  a  clear  sense  of  humor, 
and  it  lightened  his  life  and  the  lives  of  those 
about  him;  but  he  was  single-minded;  he  never 
had  any  doubt  about  what  he  ought  to  say.  Life 
for  him  was  not  a  troubled  problem.  He  was  a 
soldier,  and  he  was  appointed  to  serve  under  an 
other;  and  to  that  other  he  rendered  the  com 
pletes  t  loyalty.  I  very  much  doubt  whether  I 
have  ever  known  a  man — I  have  known  women — • 
but  I  very  much  doubt  if  I  have  ever  known  a 
man  who  had  as  much  self-abnegation,  as  much 
self-sacrifice,  as  much  ability  to  put  himself  in 
the  place  of  another,  and  suffer  and  enjoy  with 
that  other,  as  Archie  Butt. 

Lacking  nothing  in  self-respect,  giving  up 
nothing  of  what  he  owed  to  himself,  he  devoted 
himself  with  a  singleness  of  purpose  to  the  hap 
piness  and  comfort  of  the  President  who  was  his 
Chief,  and  never  did  I  know  how  much  he  was  to 
me  until  he  was  gone. 

If  Archie  could  have  selected  a  time  to  die,  he 
would  have  taken  the  one  that  God  gave  him, 
and  he  would  have  taken  it  because  he  would 


FOREWORD 


have  felt  that  there  before  the  world  he  was  ex 
emplifying  the  ideal  of  self-sacrifice  that  was 
deep-seated  in  his  nature,  and  that  had  become 
a  part  of  that  nature  in  serving  others  and  mak 
ing  them  happy  his  whole  life  long. 

The  void  he  leaves  to  those  who  knew  him ;  the 
flavor — the  sweet  flavor — of  his  personality;  the 
circumstances  of  his  going,  are  all  what  he  would 
have  had.  And,  while  we  mourn  for  him  with 
tears  that  flood  our  eyes,  we  felicitate  him  on  the 
manner  in  which  he  went,  and  the  memory  which 
he  leaves  to  the  widest  circle  of  friends — a 
memory  which  is  sweet  in  every  particular. 

WM.  H.  TAFT. 


ARCHIBALD  W.  BUTT 

Major  Archibald  Willingham  Butt  was  born 
in  Augusta,  Georgia,  September  26,  1865;  the 
third  son  of  Joshua  Willingham  and  Pamela 
Robertson  Butt. 

The  first  fourteen  years  of  his  life  were  spent 
in  Augusta,  but  the  end  of  that  happy  boyhood 
period  came  with  the  death  of  his  father,  which 
made  it  necessary  for  the  lad  to  leave  school,  the 
Summerville  Academy,  and  seek  employment  to 
help  in  the  support  of  his  mother  and  sister. 

For  three  years  he  worked  hard  at  various 
positions  in  this  city.  At  the  end  of  that  time, 
through  the  good  management  of  his  mother,  with 
the  kindly  assistance  of  her  close  friend  and  spir 
itual  advisor,  Rev.  Edwin  G.  Weed,  then  Rector 
of  Church  of  Good  Shepherd,  Summerville, 
Augusta,  Ga.,  now  Bishop  of  Florida,  he  was 
enabled  to  go  to  the  University  of  the  South,  at 
Sewanee,  Tennessee,  and  there  his  education  was 
finished. 

While  at  the  university  he  seriously  considered 
a  journalistic  career,  his  inclinations  at  this  time 
being  toward  literature.  His  literary  gifts  were 
soon  recognized  and  he  became  associate  editor 
of  the  college  paper.  Previous  to  this  the  young 
man  had  made  the  acquaintance  and  became  a 
favorite  with  General  John  B.  Castleman,  of 
Louisville,  Kentucky,  so  as  soon  as  his  college 


ARCHIBALD  W.  BUTT 

and  horses  across  the  Pacific,  leaving  Portland, 
Oregon,  with  557  animals  and  landing  556  of 
them  in  good  condition — so  good,  in  fact,  that 
they  went  to  the  field  at  once. 

He  was  the  first  person  to  announce  that  a 
horse  could  make  the  trip  across  the  Pacific 
without  being  unloaded  at  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 
So  convinced  was  he  of  the  feasibility  of  this  plan 
that  he  diverged  from  his  orders  to  unload  at 
Hilo,  and  continued  to  the  Philippines,  taking  in 
all  3£  days  to  make  the  trip.  His  work  in  this 
department  was  invaluable,  and  resulted  in  the 
government's  abandoning  much  of  its  unnecessary 
expense  in  the  transportation  of  animals. 

As  a  result  of  these  studies,  and  their  prac 
tical  working  out,  he  wrote  extensively  on  the 
subject,  and  while  in  the  Tropics  made  a  special 
study  of  the  diseases  of  horses.  His  work  has 
become  invaluable  to  all  nations  in  the  transpor 
tation  of  troops  carrying  horses,  and  his  system 
was  adopted  by  the  British  government  in  the 
transportation  of  its  horses  to  Africa  during  the 
Boer  war. 

Captain  Butt  returned  to  America  in  1904, 
and  was  given  the  important  detail  of  Depot 
Quartermaster  at  Washington,  which  he  retained 
until  the  last  revolution  in  Cuba,  when  he  was 
chosen  as  the  officer  to  go  to  Cuba  and  prepare 
for  the  army  of  occupation.  He  established  the 


XVI 


ARCHIBALD  W.  BUTT 

base  of  supplies,  and  subsequently  became  Depot 
Quartermaster  at  Havana,  where  he  remained 
until  President  Roosevelt  recalled  him  to  this 
country  and  made  him  his  Military  Aide. 

Captain  Butt  immediately  became  a  social  fac 
tor  at  Washington,  and  his  opinion  on  social 
matters  was  as  eagerly  sought  as  had  been  his 
opinion  on  matters  pertaining  to  transportation. 
There  was  nothing  the  President  called  upon  him 
to  do  to  which  he  was  not  equal.  He  played 
tennis,  climbed  precipices,  swam  rivers,  jumped 
horses  with  the  President  and  finally,  with  only 
ten  hours'  notice,  rode  to  Warrentown  and  back 
with  him,  a  distance  of  100  miles,  and  finished  in 
a  little  over  14  hours.  The  condition  of  the 
weather,  and  of  the  roads  materially  increased 
the  difficulty  of  this  ride — the  return  trip  being 
made,  for  the  most  part,  in  a  blinding  sleet  storm 
and  over  frozen  roads. 

When  President  Taft  entered  the  White  House, 
he  found  Captain  Butt,  his  old  friend  whom  he 
had  known  well  in  the  Philippines,  and  he  kept 
him  in  the  post  of  Military  Aide.  The  Captain 
served  President  Taft  with  the  same  loyalty  that 
he  had  served  President  Roosevelt,  and  it  was  said 
of  him  that,  while  he  often  had  to  stand  between 
the  President  and  parties  who  wished  to  see  him, 
he  neither  made  enemies  for  the  President  nor  for 
himself. 

xvii 


ARCHIBALD  W.  BUTT 

In  March,  1911,  Captain  Butt  was  advanced 
to  the  rank  of  Major  by  President  Taft. 

Major  Butt  was  probably  closer  to  the  Presi 
dent  than  any  man  in  Washington.  What  he 
didn't  know  about  White  House  affairs  was  con 
sidered  hardly  worth  knowing.  In  all  social  af 
fairs  at  the  White  House  he  was  considered  the 
directing  genius.  He  was  the  first  military  aide 
to  have  the  duties  assigned  to  him  at  the  White 
House. 

Captain  Butt's  mother  was  a  gifted  and  edu 
cated  woman,  and  among  his  treasures  was  a 
story  written  by  her  of  an  old  negro  woman  who 
"  wished  to  die  a  lady." 

Mrs.  Butt  didn't  want  her  son  to  leave  jour 
nalism.  She  felt  that  he  would  make  his  mark  in 
that  field  of  endeavor,  and  the  brilliant  and 
charming  qualities  of  the  present  work  attest  how 
justly  she  estimated  her  son's  gifts. 

Major  Butt  was  unmarried,  and,  while  a  social 
favorite,  cared  little  for  the  glamor  of  the  social 
swim  at  the  Capital. 

While  returning  from  a  visit  abroad  Major 
Butt  was  lost  as  one  of  the  victims  of  the  Titanic 
disaster  on  April  14—15,  1912,  in  the  heroic  cir 
cumstances  which  are  so  feelingly  referred  to  in 
President  Taft's  Tribute. 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE 
SHIELD 

i. 

"ME.  PALMER:  You  will  start  for  the 
South  to-morrow  and  write  a  series  of  let 
ters  on  the  educational  and  social  condi 
tions  existing  in  that  section.  Avoid  the 
cities  and  beaten  tracks  and  let  your  pic 
tures  be  drawn  from  life.  This  will  be  an 
order  on  the  business  office  for  what  money 
you  may  need." 

Such  were  the  orders  I  found  one  morn 
ing  on  my  desk  in  the  City  Editor's  room 
of  a  well-known  Boston  newspaper.  Of 
the  labor  involved  in  such  an  assignment 
I  was  ignorant,  and  I  saw  only  a  pleasant 
trip  in  that  part  of  my  country  in  which 
I  had  never  travelled.  I  had  been  em 
ployed  on  the  paper  for  a  comparatively 
short  time, — in  fact,  I  had  been  in  journal- 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

ism  for  a  period  of  less  than  two  years, — 
so  that  such  an  assignment  as  the  one  now 
given  me  was  highly  flattering  to  me,  and 
I  knew  it  would  be  equally  gratifying  to 
my  father,  who  had  watched  my  career  with 
that  interest  which  attaches  solely  to  an 
only  son.  I  had  not  been  out  of  Harvard 
very  long  when  I  had  taken  the  advice  of 
an  eminent  literary  man,  a  friend  of  my 
father,  and  entered  journalism  as  a  first 
stepping-stone  to  literary  distinction.  The 
few  short  stories  I  had  written,  however, 
had  been  returned  to  me  by  the  magazines 
to  which  I  had  sent  them  with  a  prompt 
ness  that  was  calculated  to  dampen  my  ar 
dor  and  otherwise  to  discourage  me.  I  had 
been  led  to  believe  that  my  style  was  ex 
ceptionally  good  and  that  I  was  not  with 
out  a  keen  sense  of  humor,  at  the  same  time 
possessing  a  proper  appreciation  of  the  pa 
thetic. 

6 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

I  had  taken  a  prize  at  the  High  School 
for  an  essay,  and  later,  when  my  talents 
began  to  develop  at  the  University,  I  was 
elected  to  fill  a  place  on  the  editorial  staff 
of  one  of  the  monthly  periodicals  published 
there.  I  was  chagrined,  therefore,  when  my 
manuscripts,  written  legibly  on  fine  linen 
paper,  tied  with  the  best  silk  ribbon  to 
be  had,  came  back  to  me.  I  began  to  form 
a  very  poor  opinion  of  our  magazines. 
Possessing  an  independent  fortune,  I  de 
termined  to  publish  my  writings  in  book 
form  at  my  own  expense.  I  took  my  manu 
scripts  to  a  publisher,  who,  honest  man 
that  he  was,  was  kind  enough  to  tell  me 
that  people  did  not  think  much  of  books 
published  at  the  author's  own  expense.  De 
termined  at  length  to  get  a  proper  estimate 
of  my  work,  I  sought  out  an  old  friend  of 
the  family  who  had  achieved  fame  by  his 
pen.  He  reviewed  my  stories,  and  in  a 

7 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

ruthless  sort  of  way,  as  it  seemed  to  me 
then,  told  me  that  some  of  my  ideas  were 
good,  but  expressed  clumsily.  He  advised 
me  to  cease  all  attempts  at  literary  compo 
sition  and  to  seek  a  place  on  a  newspaper. 
"  Writing  must  become  a  habit  with  you," 
he  said,  "  before  you  can  hope  to  express 
your  thoughts  gracefully.  What  you  need 
most  is  ease,  and  if  you  can  avoid  the  pit 
falls  of  journalism,  you  may  in  time  suc 
ceed  in  your  ambition."  It  took  me  just 
another  six  months  to  make  up  my  mind 
to  follow  his  advice,  and  when  I  did  so  it 
was  with  some  degree  of  humiliation  that  I 
discovered  that  there  was  not  a  reporter  on 
the  paper  who  did  not  write  better  than  I. 
Constant  application  in  my  new  undertak 
ing,  however,  and  the  hard  work  I  had 
done  at  the  University  soon  brought  me  my 
reward.  I  was  being  singled  out  con 
stantly  for  important  local  assignments  and 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

once  I  had  been  sent  to  Washington  on  a 
delicate  mission.  I  picked  up  again  the 
order  which  lay  on  my  desk  and  read  it 
over  the  second  time.  I  thought  I  saw 
the  ear-marks  of  politics  in  it,  and  while  the 
racial  question  was  not  mentioned  I  be 
lieved  that  it  was  this  problem  I  was  to 
discuss.  I  had  made  a  suggestion  on  this 
line  some  months  before,  but  the  Manag 
ing  Editor  had  not  taken  kindly  to  the  idea 
at  the  time.  The  order  as  I  read  it  over 
seemed  indefinite,  I  thought,  and  I  started 
with  it  to  the  Managing  Editor's  room. 
As  I  presented  myself  before  that  austere 
little  cripple — physical  but  not  mental,  for 
mentally  he  was  a  giant — I  was  outwardly 
calm,  but  my  heart  was  beating  a  tattoo 
inside,  for  there  were  few  of  us  who  did 
not  fear  to  stand  before  him  unless  very 
sure  of  the  ground  on  which  we  stood.  I 
said,  however,  in  a  business-like  way,  as  if 

9 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

such  assignments  were  daily  occurrences  to 
me, — 

"  I  have  come  to  see  you  about  this  as 
signment,  sir." 

*  What  assignment?  "  he  asked. 

"  For  me  to  go  South  to-morrow,"  I 
answered. 

"  Oh,  you  are  Palmer,  are  you? "  he 
said,  calmly  looking  me  over  through  his 
spectacles.  "  I  thought  you  were  older.  I 
have  noticed  your  work  and  gave  you  the 
present  assignment  on  account  of  it.  Have 
you  come  to  say  you  are  not  equal  to  it?  " 

I  was  somewhat  surprised  when  I  learned 
that  he  did  not  even  remember  me,  but  the 
fact  that  he  had  judged  me  by  my  work  was 
at  least  gratifying,  so  I  hastened  to  say, — 

"  No,  sir,  I  feel  perfectly  able  to  do  the 
work,  but  the  order  appears  a  little  indefi 
nite  to  me  as  to  time." 

Without  looking  up  again,  for  he  had  re 
sumed  his  proof-reading,  he  said: 
10 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

"  Take  your  own  time,  but  I  shall  say 
two  months  ought  to  suffice.  What  I  want 
are  facts,  not  discolored,  distorted  pict 


ures." 


He  did  not  even  say  good-morning — in 
deed,  he  seemed  to  have  dismissed  me  from 
his  mind.  With  an  indifferent  bow  I  re 
tired,  wondering  why  Managing  Editors 
think  it  a  part  of  their  official  duties  to  be 
ill-mannered.  I  was  sorry  that  I  had  not 
asked  him  exactly  what  he  wanted,  but  on 
this  point  I  felt  reasonably  certain,  how 
ever,  for  there  was  to  be  a  Presidential 
election  the  following  year,  and  the  more  I 
thought  of  it  the  more  certain  I  became 
that  my  letters  were  to  be  used  to  arouse 
sentiment  in  New  England  against  the  op 
posing  party,  and  thereby  make  certain  the 
electoral  vote  of  that  section.  My  work 
would  not  only  make  certain  the  New  Eng 
land  vote,  but  possibly  save  the  vote  of 
some  of  the  Middle  Western  States.  My 
11 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

father  had  been  an  abolitionist  and  his  fa 
ther  before  him.  They  had  been  called 
doctrinaries  by  their  neighbors,  but  they 
had  lived  to  see  those  principles  become  the 
nation's  shibboleth.  My  father  lived  to 
modify  many  of  his  ideas,  but  I  refused 
persistently  to  modify  my  views  as  they 
had  been  inculcated  into  me  by  my  rugged 
old  grandfather. 

As  I  read  the  order  of  my  assignment 
over  again  it  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  com 
mand  to  charge  the  enemy.  The  old  aboli 
tion  blood  was  in  my  veins  and  was  run 
ning  at  high  tide.  With  feverish  haste  I 
made  ready  for  my  departure.  Packing 
up  a  few  things  and  putting  my  writing 
materials  in  my  grip  where  I  could  the 
more  easily  get  at  them,  I  started  for  what 
I  still  looked  upon  as  the  enemy's  country. 

As  I  sped  south  the  possibilities  of  a 
brilliant  future  arose  before  me.  When  I 
12 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

reached  Baltimore  I  looked  from  the 
window  of  the  car  and  recalled  the  scenes 
enacted  there,  when  my  father  was  one  of 
those  stoned  while  on  their  way  to  the  de 
fence  of  their  country.  The  day  grew 
rapidly  on,  and  as  the  train  pulled  into 
Washington  the  lofty  dome  of  the  Capitol, 
bathed  in  the  fresh  light  of  an  April  morn 
ing,  dispelled  my  resentful  thoughts  and 
led  them  back  to  the  beautiful  scenes  which 
were  always  uppermost  in  my  father's 
memory  whenever  he  talked  of  the  South 
and  of  the  friends  he  had  made  there  after 
the  bitter  days  of  the  campaign  were  over. 
After  leaving  Washington  every  station 
became  of  interest,  and  there  was  no  de 
tail  from  which  I  did  not  draw  some  moral. 
I  had  determined  to  pierce  the  border 
States  and  seek  for  the  information  I  de 
sired  from  the  land  where  the  palmetto,  the 
pine,  and  the  live-oak  live  side  by  side.  The 

13 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

windows  of  the  car  had  been  raised,  and 
through  them  came  the  bracing  winds  from 
the  Blue  Ridge,  and  I  could  catch  occa 
sionally  the  strange  minor  notes  of  the  ne 
groes  at  work  in  the  fields.  I  was  alive  to 
every  impression,  and  I  took  out  my  note 
book  to  chain  in  my  memory  some  of  the 
passing  scenes. 

That  evening  I  finished  my  first  letter 
and  mailed  it  from  the  train. 

When  I  reached  Atlanta  I  made  inquiry 
as  to  the  best  means  of  reaching  some  of 
the  outlying  counties,  where  I  could  study 
the  social  and  educational  conditions  of  this 
people  out  of  the  beaten  tracks  and  away 
from  the  thriving  centres  through  which  I 
had  passed,  and  which,  according  to  my 
preconceived  opinions,  were  the  result  of 
Northern  capital  or  New  England  energy. 
I  remained  in  the  vicinity  of  this  city  for 

several  days,   making  journeys   into   the 
u 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

country  and  taking  notes  of  the  field-hands 
and  making  inquiry  as  to  the  wages  paid 
and  the  amount  of  labor  performed  by  the 
average  hand.  My  zeal  was  unabated,  and 
I  was  on  the  point  of  putting  all  my  fig 
ures  into  a  letter  when  my  enthusiasm  re 
ceived  a  check  that  came  near  causing  me 
to  throw  up  my  assignment,  which  I  would 
have  done  without  hesitation  had  I  not 
feared  it  would  mean  a  summary  dismissal 
from  the  paper  as  well.  On  coming  in 
from  the  factory  district  one  afternoon  I 
found  a  letter  from  the  Managing  Editor. 
It  said: 

"  We  want  facts.  Your  letter  mailed  on  the 
train  found  useless,  and  has  been  thrown  in  the 
waste-basket.  If  true,  it  was  a  very  good 
editorial,  but  we  do  not  want  editorials  from 
you.  If  you  still  have  my  order,  read  it  over 
and  you  will  find  in  it  nothing  about  the  racial 
question  or  political  problems.  Study  the  white 


15 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

people,  especially  the  families  of  the  old  regime, 
and  bear  in  mind  always  that  whatever  you  write 
will  be  copied  there.  Your  letters,  therefore, 
should  be  just  and  truthful,  whatever  else  they 
may  be.  If  you  were  an  artist  with  the  brush, 
I  should  say  paint  a  picture  of  some  old  colonial 
homesteads  and  ante-bellum  plantations.  Since 
you  can't  paint,  write  of  them  as  they  are. 
Bring  the  scenes  in  Georgia  vividly  before  the 
people  of  Boston.  They  can  draw  their  own 
conclusions.  Let  your  pictures  be  of  people  and 
places  only  as  you  see  them." 

That  was  all ;  but  it  was  sufficient  to  shat 
ter  my  hopes  and  discourage  all  further 
attempts  to  make  sure  of  the  electoral 
vote  of  New  England.  Disconsolate,  and 
with  a  vague  sense  of  my  own  ignorance,  I 
boarded  a  train  that  night  bound  some 
where  in  a  southerly  direction,  I  did  not 
know  and  I  did  not  care  where. 


16 


II. 

WHEN  I  awoke  the  next  morning  the 
odor  which  filled  every  crevice  of  the  car 
told  me  that  I  had  entered  the  pine-belt 
of  Georgia  during  my  sleep.  I  threw  up 
my  window  and  inhaled  great  draughts  of 
fresh  air.  I  felt  invigorated  and  ready  to 
carry  out  my  assignment,  no  matter  where 
it  led  me,  the  farther  into  the  pine-forests 
and  out  of  reach  of  managing  editors, 
I  thought,  the  better.  Later  in  the  day 
I  left  the  main  road  and  took  a  narrow- 
gauge  line  which  I  was  told  followed  the 
bed  of  the  Savannah  River  and  passed 
through  several  of  the  most  historic  coun 
ties  of  the  State,  rich  in  memories  of  the 
past  and  peopled  mostly  by  remnants  of 
the  old  colonial  and  ante-bellum  families, 
who  had,  in  the  past,  made  them  the  most 
influential  centres  of  the  State. 

17 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

The  railroad  wended  its  way  through  a 
beautiful  rolling  country  studded  with 
pines  and  cedars.  The  wild-flowers  grew 
up  to  the  very  tracks  and  the  earth  seemed 
carpeted  with  soft,  velvety  moss.  Through 
the  pines  I  caught  glimpses  occasionally  of 
stately  old  residences,  with  their  gardens 
unkept  and  the  weeds  growing  in  wild  pro 
fusion.  Where  the  fences  had  fallen  they 
had  been  left  to  decay,  but  the  fields  were 
ploughed  and  showed  signs  of  cultivation 
at  a  cost  of  great  labor. 

We  stopped  at  several  stations,  and 
around  each  there  was  an  air  of  happy  in 
dolence  that  lent  a  charm  to  the  dilapidated 
wooden  sheds  which  stood  for  depots,  and 
in  front  of  these  there  was  always  to  be 
seen  some  antiquated  wagon  or  "  carry 
all."  These  latter  were  invariably  filled 
with  half-grown  boys  and  girls  laughing 
and  chattering  like  a  lot  of  magpies  as 

18 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

the  train  pulled  up.  They  were  there 
presumably  to  get  the  mail,  but  as  I 
thought  more  likely  to  exchange  bits  of 
gossip  and  to  find  out  what  was  "  going 
on  "  down  the  road.  I  gave  myself  up  to 
listening  to  their  chatter,  and  I  found  my 
self  wondering  as  the  train  would  start 
again  on  its  slow  journey  how  many  of 
these  bright  and  innocent  faces  there  would 
be  at  the  next  station  to  greet  us.  It 
would,  indeed,  take  some  time,  I  thought, 
to  get  a  proper  estimate  of  these  people, 
whose  clothes  would  indicate  that  they  be 
longed  to  the  farming  and  laboring  classes, 
but  whose  conversation,  accent,  and  gram 
matical  phrasing  would  lead  one  to  believe 
they  represented  a  class  better  educated 
and  with  more  culture  than  one  is  likely 
to  discover  in  such  out-of-the-way  counties 
as  those  through  which  we  were  now  pass 
ing. 

19 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

By  degrees  the  few  passengers  who  had 
taken  this  train  got  off,  and  towards  the 
end  of  the  journey  there  was  no  one  in  the 
coach  but  a  venerable  looking  old  gentle 
man  and  myself.  He  wore  a  long  frock 
coat  and  an  old-fashioned  silk  hat.  He 
represented  a  type  I  had  begun  to  know 
and  recognize.  He  seemed  well  known 
along  the  road.  It  was  "  Howdy,  Colonel 
Turpin?  "  at  every  station  now,  and  some 
one  always  asked,  "  How's  Ellen?  "  His 
clean-shaven  face  would  wreath  itself  in  a 
smile  as  invariably  he  would  make  an 
swer,— 

"  Ellen's  well,  but  between  the  cooking 
and  the  music  she  has  little  time  left  to 
frolic  with  you  young  people  nowadays." 

"  It's  her  own  fault,"  said  someone  at 
one  of  the  stations,  "  for  all  she  has  got 
to  do  is  to  choose  which  farm  she  prefers, 
that  of  Squire  Hawkins  or  Jim  Wadley's 

20 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

Hollyhurst."  At  this  there  was  a  burst  of 
merriment  from  the  young  people  in  the 
wagons. 

"  Don't  be  putting  such  notions  in  my 
Ellen's  head  just  now,"  he  would  laugh 
back.  "  Ellen  and  Bud  have  their  old  fa 
ther  and  mother  to  look  after  for  a  while 
yet,  to  say  nothing  of  the  Pines." 

"Bud  can  do  that  by  himself,"  called 
out  one  youth.  Then  he  suddenly  turned 
red  and  hung  his  head  as  he  saw  the  girls 
casting  their  eyes  from  one  to  the  other  and 
laughing. 

"  I  dare  say  there  are  others  of  us  who 
have  used  that  argument  to  Ellen  before 
this  and  many  a  time,"  added  another  boy 
scarce  out  of  his  teens,  "  so  you  need  not 
bother  to  repeat  it,  Colonel." 

By  the  time  our  train  started  again 
I  had  determined  to  introduce  myself  to 
the  Colonel,  for  I  saw  material  in  him  for 
21 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

a  letter.  By  way  of  opening  operations  I 
asked  him  the  distance  to  Oglethorpe  Sta 
tion,  where  I  had  expected  to  leave  the 
train. 

"  About  five  miles,  sir,"  he  said,  and  with 
a  courteous,  old-fashioned  bow  across  the 
aisle  he  added,  "May  I  ask  if  you  are 
bound  there? " 

I  told  him  that  was  my  destination.  He 
then  continued: 

"  If  it  be  not  too  impertinent,  may  I  ask 
you  what  takes  you  to  such  an  out-of-the- 
way  place?  You  are  not  a  lawyer  from  At 
lanta,  are  you,  sir? " 

There  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  note  of  alarm 
in  the  question,  and  he  appeared  greatly 
relieved  and  his  face  brightened  visibly 
when  I  told  him  that  I  was  not  a  lawyer 
and  was  visiting  Georgia  for  the  first  time. 
I  soon  learned  the  cause  of  his  anxiety  as 

to  the  matter  of  my  profession,  for  in  a  con- 
22 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

fidential  whisper,  which  could  have  been 
heard  throughout  the  car  had  there  been 
others  in  it,  he  said,— 

'  When  smart-looking  young  men  like 
you  come  up  this  road  they  bring  trouble 
with  them  usually,  and  as  often  leave  more 
behind,  sir." 

"  How  is  that?  "  determined  to  burrow 
as  deep  as  possible  in  this  ante-bellum  soil, 
which  I  believed  to  be  rich  from  the  wild 
and  uncultivated  growth  of  experience. 
"  Don't  smart-looking  men  often  come  up 
this  road?" 

"  Hardly  ever  but  to  foreclose  some  poor 
devil's  mortgage."  Here  he  began  to 
laugh  immoderately,  and  when  his  risibles 
had  subsided  sufficiently  to  explain,  for  I 
was  somewhat  surprised  at  his  sudden  burst 
of  merriment,  he  said : 

"  I'll  bet  you  a  pine-knot  all  sawed  up 
against  a  bushel  of  potatoes  that  at  a  half- 

23 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

dozen  stations  bets  are  being  made  right 
now  that  you  have  come  up  to  foreclose  the 
mortgage  on  the  Pines.  That's  my  place, 
you  know.  I'll  have  a  good  laugh  at  their 
expense  when  I  go  down  the  road  again." 
"  Are  all  the  plantations  about  here 
mortgaged?  "  I  asked. 

"  Mostly,"  he  said.  "  I  know  my  plan 
tation  is,  and  heavily  too,  but  most  of  the 
planters  don't  like  to  acknowledge  it.  Old 
Bill  Hollins  vowed  his  wasn't  for  ten  years, 
and  then  one  day  a  fellow  looking  about 
like  you  came  up  and  closed  him  out.  He 
was  so  ashamed  at  being  caught  in  a  lie 
that  he  moved  out  of  the  county  and  has 
never  been  back  since." 

"  I  sincerely  hope,  sir,  that  your  frank 
ness  in  the  matter  may  be  rewarded  by  an 
indefinite  delay  in  the  foreclosure  proceed 
ings,"  I  said,  deeply  touched  at  the  hon 
est  avowal  of  the  old  gentleman,  who,  I 

24 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

saw,  felt  much  deeper  on  the  subject  than 
he  would  have  liked  me  to  think. 

"  I  don't  know,"  he  said;  "  I  can't  tell. 
Up  to  this  time  Bud  has  been  able  to  meet 
the  interest  regularly,  and  as  long  as  he 
does  that  I  suppose  we  have  little  to  fear." 

Presently  I  asked  what  accommodations 
were  to  be  had  at  Oglethorpe. 

"  Mighty  poor,  mighty  poor,  sir;  that  is, 
if  you  stay  in  the  town.  But  if  you  are  go 
ing  to  be  long  in  the  vicinity,  you  might  get 
board  in  one  of  the  farm-houses  outside  of 
the  town." 

I  thanked  him  and  then  explained  that  I 
was  a  writer  and  that  I  was  collecting  ma 
terial  for  a  story. 

"  A  book?  "  he  said,  showing  great  inter 
est  at  once  and  carefully  scanning  my  face 
through  his  spectacles. 

'  Yes,"  I  answered,  which  was  the  truth, 
at  least,  for  I  had  suddenly  conceived  the 

25 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

idea  of  collecting  data  for  a  novel;  for 
where  else,  I  thought,  could  there  be  better 
characters  and  scenery  than  right  here?  My 
aged  companion  looked  thoughtful  for  a 
moment  and  then  said,— 

"  May  I  ask  if  you  have  any  references, 
or  if  you  know  anybody  in  these  parts?  " 

I  mentioned  several  persons  within  the 
State  whom  my  father  had  known,  and 
these  seemed  to  satisfy  him,  for  he  contin 
ued: 

"  If  you  are  of  a  mind  to  accept  my  hos 
pitality,  we  will  be  glad  to  put  you  up  and 
to  share  what  we  have  with  you.  I  guess 
Bud  would  enjoy  your  company,  and  Ellen 
and  Mary — Mary's  my  wife — would  make 
you  welcome." 

"  It  would  be  a  great  convenience  to  me," 
I  said,  and  thanked  him,  "  for  I  know  noth 
ing  of  this  country  and  you  seem  to  be  very 
well  acquainted." 

26 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

"  I  ought  to  be,"  he  said,  "  for  my  fam 
ily  has  been  in  these  parts  since  General 
Oglethorpe,  that  great  philanthropist  and 
friend  of  the  poor,  first  came  to  Georgia. 
The  last  time  he  came  to  this  country  he 
made  my  great-grandfather's  house  his 
headquarters  when  on  his  way  from  Fort 
Augusta  to  Savannah.  Just  before  the 
Revolution  he  sent  my  grandfather  a  por 
trait  of  himself  in  token  of  the  esteem  in 
which  he  held  his  father.  He  lived  to  see 
the  Colony  he  had  planted  become  an  in 
dependent  State,  you  know,  sir,  and  he 
seemed  mighty  proud  of  the  record  old 
Georgia  made  during  the  War  of  the  Revo 
lution.  The  Pines,  as  we  call  our  home, 
was  built  just  after  his  death,  and  his  pict 
ure  has  the  place  of  honor  in  it  now.  It 
is  a  sorry  place  since  the  Yankees  came 
through  here  and  used  it  as  a  stable,  but 
we  keep  it  with  the  hope  that  some  day 

27 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

the  fortunes  of  the  family  may  go  out  of 
their  eclipse  and  that  some  worthy  son  will 
arise  to  restore  it  to  its  former  position  of 
importance  in  the  Commonwealth.  But 
what  there  is  left  you  will  be  welcomed  to, 
my  lad." 

Before  I  could  properly  thank  him  the 
whistle  blew  and  our  train  pulled  into  Ogle- 
thorpe.  The  Colonel  advanced,  and,  call 
ing  out  to  an  old  negro,  whom  he  addressed 
as  Jefferson,  ordered  him  to  bring  the 
wagon  nearer,  as  there  was  a  trunk  to  get. 

"  If  I  know'd  yer  had  gists,  Mars  Ge'oge, 
I'd  sure  have  brought  the  coach,"  said  the 
old  darky,  looking  apologetically  at  the 
wagon  he  was  on.  The  Colonel  told  him 
that  I  was  going  to  stay  some  time,  and 
that  he  "  reckoned  "  I  would  know  all  they 
had  soon  and  so  he  would  not  begin  by  of 
fering  excuses. 

"  By  the  way,  sir,"  he  said  as  we  stepped 

28 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

off  the  platform,  "  I  have  not  the  pleasure 
of  knowing  your  name,  though  you  have 
heard  mine  often  enough  this  morning."  I 
had,  indeed,  overlooked  that  detail  or  else 
felt  indifferent  to  it,  but  I  handed  him 
my  card,  which  he  read  carefully  and  then 
asked : 

"  I  reckon  you  ain't  any  relation  to  the 
Palmers  of  Kentucky;  I  roomed  with  two 
men  from  that  State  of  your  name  years 
ago  when  I  was  at  Princeton." 

I  told  the  Colonel  that  I  was  not  from 
Kentucky,  but  thought  there  was  some 
kinship.  I  had  intended  telling  him  that 
the  families  had  never  met,  and  that  in  all 
probability  the  Kentucky  Palmers  would 
not  know  of  me,  but  I  did  not  finish  my  ex 
planation,  for  as  soon  as  I  mentioned  kin 
ship  he  grasped  my  hand  warmly  and  said: 

"  Then,  sir,  you  can  make  yourself  at 
home  in  my  house  as  long  as  you  care  to, 

29 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

for  there  were  never  two  finer  fellows  than 
those  Palmer  boys,  even  if  they  did  join  the 
Yankee  army  during  the  war.  I  tell  you, 
sir,  I  am  proud  and  happy  to  entertain  one 
of  their  blood  at  the  Pines.  And  now, 
Jefferson,  drive  fast,  for  we  must  let  Miss 
Ellen  know  we  have  a  guest." 

The  Pines  was  a  distance  of  some  five 
miles  from  the  town  limits.  It  was  appro 
priately  named,  for  after  we  entered  the 
grounds  we  passed  into  a  primeval  forest 
of  tall  and  stately  pine-trees.  The  long 
needles  waved  in  the  wind  and  there  was  a 
mournful  cadence  in  the  branches,  differ 
ent  from  the  song  we  hear  in  the  Northern 
forests.  The  ground  was  covered  with 
pine-straw,  and  it  might  have  been  falling 
there  and  ungathered  for  generations,  so 
thickly  did  it  seem  to  lie.  We  crossed  a 
branch  over  which  there  had  been  built 

30 


EOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

an  old  stone  bridge,  now  covered  with 
vines. 

"  That,  sir,  was  built  as  a  memorial  to 
General  Oglethorpe,"  said  my  old  host, 
seeing  my  curiosity,  for  the  bridge  was  out 
of  all  proportion  to  the  size  of  the  stream. 
"  When  the  General  paid  his  memorable 
visit  to  this  place  it  was  right  there,  sir, 
that  he  drew  from  his  pocket  a  small  flask, 
and  after  offering  my  grandfather  a  dram 
took  one  himself.  You  must  know,  sir, 
that  the  great  philanthropist  was  supposed 
to  be  'a  teetotaler,'  and  certainly  never 
took  a  drink  in  the  presence  of  any  of  his 
colonists  for  fear  of  setting  them  a  bad 
example.  That  little  act  shows  as  nothing 
else  could  the  great  confidence  and  esteem 
in  which  he  held  my  worthy  progenitor." 

I  was  anxious  to  hear  more  of  this  epi 
sode,  but  feared  to  get  the  Colonel  started 

31 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

on  what  was  evidently  to  him  an  important 
bit  of  family  history,  and  which  I  sus 
pected  strongly  had  become  a  hobby. 
"Some  day  Ellen  shall  walk  here  with  you," 
he  added,  "  and  show  you  the  inscriptions 
on  it.  You  will  find  them  interesting." 

Ellen  again.  I  was  beginning  to  feel 
the  keenest  anxiety  to  meet  this  Ellen  and 
to  wonder  what  she  could  be — half  cook 
and  half  lady,  I  had  begun  to  think  from 
the  little  bits  I  had  picked  up  concerning 
her  during  the  day.  We  passed  from  the 
pine-trees  into  a  long  avenue  of  cedars,  and 
when  we  emerged  from  this  the  Pines  in  all 
its  solitary  and  lonely  grandeur  stood  be 
fore  us,  rich  in  coloring  from  the  setting 
sun,  that  bathed  it  in  a  crimson  glow.  As 
I  looked  at  it  in  wonderment,  it  might 
have  been  a  dream  out  of  the  past  that  had 
taken  shape  and  floated  now  across  my 
vision.  Its  front  and  sides  were  flanked 

32 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

with  Colonial  columns  of  the  Doric  type, 
and  the  low  wings  running  at  right  angles 
to  the  body  of  the  house  were  covered  with 
vines  which  almost  hid  the  low  porch. 
This  porch  was  supported  by  diminutive 
columns  of  the  same  graceful  curves.  I 
was  so  moved  by  the  beauty  of  the  whole 
at  first  that  I  failed  to  note  that  some  of 
the  columns  were  on  the  point  of  falling 
and  that  others  were  crumbling  to  decay. 
The  plaster  had  fallen  from  many  of  them, 
showing  a  dull-red  brick  behind.  But 
these  evidences  of  decay  gave  an  additional 
charm  to  the  scene,  augmenting  its  perfec 
tion  as  a  whole  and  keeping  it  in  perfect 
harmony  with  its  owner  and  the  neighbor 
hood  of  that  section.  It  seemed  to  typify 
the  generation  then  living  there  and  fight 
ing  against  its  own  decay.  I  was  awakened 
from  my  dreamy  thought  by  hearing  the 
Colonel  calling  loudly  for  someone  to  get 

33 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

the  horse.  Presently  there  came  from 
around  one  of  the  wings  a  little,  half -naked 
urchin,  who  said  that  Mrs.  Turpin  had 
gone  to  the  Trig  funeral,  and  that  Miss 
Ellen  was  cooking  the  dinner,  and  that 
"  Young  Marsa  "  had  not  come  from  the 
fields. 

"  Then  tell  Miss  Ellen,  Sammie,  to  put 
another  finger  in  the  pie,  for  I  have 
brought  a  guest  home  with  me.  Now,  sir," 
turning  to  me,  "  if  you  will  come  with  me, 
I  will  show  you  your  room  and  bid  you 
make  yourself  at  home." 

We  passed  under  a  huge  doorway  and 
entered  a  large  hall  which  was  as  wide  as 
any  room  I  could  remember  in  my  grand 
father's  house  in  New  England.  It  was 
almost  bare  of  furniture.  There  were  two 
or  more  large  mahogany  sofas  which  had 
once  been  lined  with  black  horsehair,  but 
this  latter  was  so  much  worn  that  the  mat- 

34 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

ting  showed  beneath  it  in  places,  and  in 
others  it  was  patched  with  bright-colored 
calico  and  sometimes  with  pieces  of  faded 
silk.  The  Colonel  led  me  up  a  flight  of 
stairs,  bare  of  carpet  but  clean  and  pol 
ished.  *  You  will  be  right  over  the  billiard- 
room,"  he  said,  opening  a  door  which  led 
into  a  beautifully  lighted  room  on  the  east 
side,  standing  in  the  centre  of  which  was 
a  large,  canopied  bed.  "  If  you  care  for 
billiards,"  he  continued,  "  I  will  wager  that 
Ellen  can  give  you  ten  points  and  beat 
you  out.  And  now,  sir,  we  have  dinner  at 
six  o'clock,  for  Bud  likes  to  have  his  din 
ner  when  he  comes  from  the  field  instead 
of  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  as  he  says  he 
feels  more  like  a  gentleman.  Until  then, 
sir,  I  hope  you  rest  well." 

I  had  not  asked  the  question  before, 
but  now  summoned  the  courage  to  say: 
"  Colonel,  there  is  one  little  thing  I 

35 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

should  like  to  have  settled.  Business  is 
business,  you  know,"  I  said,  laughing,  for 
I  did  not  like  the  look  of  dignity  he  sud 
denly  assumed  at  the  mention  of  business. 
"  In  justice  to  both  of  us,  I  ought  to  ask 
you  how  much  will  be  my  board  by  the 
week." 

Had  General  Oglethorpe  himself  arisen 
to  confront  the  Colonel  I  do  not  think  he 
could  have  shown  more  surprise  than  he 
did  at  my  simple  question.  He  drew  him 
self  up  with  a  dignity  which  was  truly  com 
manding,  and,  speaking  in  a  suppressed 
voice,  he  asked  me: 

"  When  have  the  Turpins  adopted  the 
custom  of  taking  money  from  their  guests, 
I  beg  you  to  tell  me,  sir?  If  you  were 
not  a  kinsman  of  my  dear  friends,  the 
Palmers,  I  would  at  once  show  you  the 
door." 

I  stood  covered  with  confusion.     "  I 

36 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

humbly  beg  your  pardon  if  I  have  offended 
you,  Colonel,  and  I  am  greatly  mortified 
to  have  so  deeply  wounded  you,  but  until 
this  moment  I  thought  you  had  been  kind 
enough  to  receive  me  as  a  boarder.  I  felt 
grateful  enough  for  that,  and  you  should 
not  put  me  under  obligations  which  I  can 
never  repay  and  which  I  have  no  right  to 
accept.  But  you  yourself  are  somewhat  to 
blame,"  I  added  quickly,  for  I  saw  that  he 
was  still  deeply  offended.  "  You  told  me 
that  I  might  get  board  in  one  of  the  farm 
houses  and  immediately  offered  me  the 
hospitality  of  your  roof." 

"  The  Turpins  are  not  farmers,  sir,  they 
are  planters,  and  if  we  have  to  cook  our 
own  meals,  we  serve  them  with  no  less  de 
gree  of  hospitality  than  when  a  nigger  stood 
at  each  door  at  the  beck  and  call  of  every 
body  in  the  room." 

"  Colonel  Turpin,  I  hope  you  will  for- 

37 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

give  me  my  stupid  blunder  or  else  let  me 
leave  your  house  at  once." 

His  face  relented  into  a  smile,  and  ex 
tending  his  hand  he  grasped  mine. 

"  As  you  say,  lad,  I  am  not  blameless 
in  the  matter.  But  we  are  getting  a  little 
sensitive  down  here.  And  now  forget  all 
about  it,  and,  what  is  more,  don't  ever 
mention  it  to  Ellen  or  to  Bud,  for  they 
would  think  their  old  father  had  been  lack 
ing  in  dignity,  else  a  mistake  of  this  kind 
were  impossible." 

When  he  left  me  I  fell  a  prey  to  regrets 
over  my  stupid  blunder  and,  what  seemed 
worse,  my  apparent  deception  concerning 
the  relationship  with  the  Kentucky  Pal 
mers.  As  long  as  I  thought  I  was  going 
to  an  inn  of  some  kind  or  to  pay  my  board 
I  had  not  thought  it  worth  the  while  to  ex 
plain  the  mistake  into  which  the  Colonel 
had  fallen.  I  felt  it  to  be  too  late  now  to 

38 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

confess  that  in  all  likelihood  there  was  no 
kinship  at  all;  or,  if  any,  so  remote  as  to 
form  no  ties  of  blood,  and  certainly  not  to 
earn  for  me  any  consideration  on  that 
score.  Feeling  like  a  culprit,  I  threw  my 
self  on  the  bed,  determined  to  leave  the 
Pines  at  the  first  moment  I  could  do  so 
without  offending  my  kind  old  host. 


39 


III. 

WHEN  the  pickaninny,  Sam,  knocked  at 
my  door  to  tell  me  that  dinner  was  served 
he  found  me  prepared  to  do  justice  to  any 
thing  in  the  way  of  food  which  might  be 
placed  before  me.  I  had  been  travelling 
all  day,  to  all  intents  and  purposes  with 
out  anything  to  eat.  While  anxious  to 
satisfy  my  hunger,  yet  it  was  with  some 
feeling  of  embarrassment  that  I  started 
down-stairs  to  meet  the  Colonel.  He  met 
me  at  the  foot  of  the  steps  and,  motioning 
me  to  follow  him,  led  me  to  a  room  in  one 
of  the  side  wings.  There  I  saw  two  silver 
goblets,  frosted  on  the  outside,  with  their 
rims  completely  hidden  by  long  and  grace 
ful  bunches  of  mint.  Without  sitting  down 
he  handed  me  one  and  took  the  other  him 
self. 

"  Of  late  years,  Mr.  Palmer,"  he  said, 

40 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

"  we  have  abandoned  the  time-honored  cus 
tom  of  drinking  mint  juleps  before  our 
dinner;  but  in  order  that  you  may  feel  per 
fectly  at  home  and  rest  certain  of  the  fact 
that  I  feel  no  resentment  on  account  of 
your  natural  mistake,  I  have  taken  the  lib 
erty  of  asking  you  to  join  me  in  one  of 
these,  sir,"  holding  the  goblet  as  if  pledging 
my  health. 

"  This  delicious  fluid  should  be  sipped 
only  while  sitting,  but  as  the  family  is  as 
sembled  for  dinner,  I  will  ask  you  to  fore 
go  the  pleasure  of  a  chat  over  our  juleps 
and  drink  standing.  I  pledge  your  health, 
sir,  and  that  of  your  kinsfolk,  the  friends 
of  my  young  manhood. 

It  was  the  first  julep  I  had  ever  tasted, 
and  I  shall  never  forget  with  what  deli 
cious  force  the  straw  threw  the  liquor 
against  the  roof  of  my  mouth.  The  gob 
lets  were  soon  emptied,  and  I  was  ushered 

41 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

into  the  parlor,  where  we  were  evidently 
expected,  for  the  occupants  were  standing. 

"  Mr.  Palmer,  let  me  present  you  to  my 
wife,  Mrs.  Turpin;  to  my  daughter,  Ellen, 
and  to  my  son,  Howell  Cobb,  whom  I  hope 
you  will  soon  address  as  Bud.  Ellen,  my 
dear,  bid  our  guest,  Mr.  Palmer,  welcome, 
for  he  is  a  kinsman  of  my  old  friends,  the 
Palmers  of  Kentucky,  of  whom  you  have 
so  often  heard  me  speak." 

"  Any  friend  whom  my  father  brings  to 
us  is  welcome,  Mr.  Palmer,  but  we  make 
you  doubly  welcome  on  account  of  the  ties 
which  bind  our  house  to  yours." 

She  extended  her  hand,  which  I  took, 
and  for  the  first  time  looked  into  that  frank, 
open  face.  I  did  not  think  her  beautiful 
then,  but  I  was  unprepared  for  the  sub 
tle  ease  and  grace  of  manner  and  the  ex 
quisite  poise  of  her  head  and  the  patrician 
face  that  was  turned  to  me  without  any 

42 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

sign  of  embarrassment  whatever.  Her 
eyes  were  large  and  brown  and  her  hands 
small  and  white.  These  were  the  only 
things  about  her  that  sunk  then  into  my 
memory. 

"  Mr.  Palmer,  father  has  taken  us  some 
what  by  surprise  and  you  must  excuse 
many  things,  but  we  make  you  right  wel 
come;  and  when  you  get  tired  of  playing 
billiards  with  Ellen  and  talking  politics 
with  father  I  have  a  good  dog  and  gun 
at  your  disposal." 

The  young  man  who  was  addressing  me 
was  tall  and  big,  and  when  I  had  first  en 
tered  I  had  mistaken  him  for  a  lubberly 
farm-hand,  but  here  he  was,  making  me 
welcome  with  the  ease  of  a  courtier.  Mrs. 
Turpin  was  a  small,  delicate-looking  wo 
man,  but  was  gowned  in  a  faded  royal  pur 
ple  velvet,  evidently  the  remnant  of  an  an 
terior  date. 

43 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

"  You  young  people  can  make  plans  at 
the  table.  In  the  meantime  Ellen's  roast 
is  getting  cold,"  said  the  Colonel.  Then  I 
remembered  about  the  cooking,  and 
thought  for  a  moment  what  a  sacrilege  it 
would  be  to  devour  anything  prepared  by 
those  lovely  hands,  but  a  sudden  convul 
sive  pang  of  hunger  banished  my  sentimen 
tal  thought  and  I  offered  my  arm  gladly 
to  Mrs.  Turpin,  while  she  led  the  way  to 
the  dining-room.  It  was,  in  fact,  an  im 
mense  hall,  wainscoted  with  oak,  but  the 
walls  above  the  panelling  were  stained  and, 
as  far  as  I  could  see,  even  mouldy.  It  was 
a  gloomy-looking  place,  but  the  table  was 
made  bright  and  cheerful  by  two  big  can 
dlesticks.  On  the  table  was  a  profusion 
of  dishes,  some  silver,  others  of  rare  old 
china,  and,  as  I  saw  later,  there  was  hardly 
one  of  the  latter  which  was  not  broken  or 
chipped,  but  each  steamed  with  some  sa- 

44 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

vory  vegetable  or  meat,  and  I  soon  fell 
in  the  way  of  handing  plates  around  the 
table  and  helping  others  from  the  dishes 
in  front  or  near  me,  just  as  we  were  wont 
to  do  in  the  railroad  eating-houses  in  New 
England  when  I  was  a  boy.  The  conver 
sation  was  easy  and  homelike,  and  I  saw 
at  once  that  I  was  not  looked  upon  as  a 
stranger.  No  questions  were  asked  me 
about  myself,  for  which  I  was  thankful, 
and  I  soon  saw  too  that  the  Colonel  did  not 
intend  to  relate  the  details  of  our  meet 
ing  that  morning  or  to  account  to  the  other 
members  of  the  family  for  his  sudden  im 
pulse  to  invite  me  to  become  a  guest  at  the 
Pines.  So,  as  if  by  mutual  consent,  we  re 
frained  from  making  any  reference  to  the 
matter,  and  I  determined  to  leave  it  to  the 
Colonel  to  make  any  explanations  which 
he  might  think  to  be  best. 

The  Colonel  told  Miss  Ellen  what  the 

45 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

girls  had  said  about  Jim,  at  which  she 
laughed  heartily,  but  grew  very  red  and 
showed  some  annoyance  when  he  related 
what  they  had  said  about  choosing  a  farm 
in  the  county,  and  especially  when  refer 
ence  was  made  to  Squire  Hawkins.  I  shall 
never  forget  how  my  plate  looked  after  it 
had  gone  around  the  table.  It  had  left  my 
place  empty  and  came  back  piled  to  the 
brim  with  every  sort  of  vegetable  on  the 
table.  Miss  Ellen  laughed  when  I  con 
fessed  that  I  did  not  know  how  to  eat  rice, 
nor  would  she  rest  content  until  she  had 
taken  my  plate  and  arranged  it-  according 
to  the  manner  of  eating  rice  in  that  sec 
tion.  She  covered  it  with  butter  and 
sprinkled  a  little  salt  of  it  and,  handing  it 
back  to  me,  bade  me  eat  it,  telling  me  that 
it  was  a  part  of  my  education.  She  laughed 
again  when  I  wanted  to  put  pepper  on  it, 
but  she  would  let  her  father  put  a  little 

46 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

dish  gravy  over  it  if  it  were  not  palatable. 
I  ate  it,  not  because  I  liked  it  then,  for  I 
would  have  eaten  so  much  sawdust  had  she 
told  me  it  was  good  and  bade  me  do  so. 

Every  now  and  then,  after  I  had  swal 
lowed  some  rice,  I  would  look  up  to  find 
her  eyes  fixed  roguishly  on  me,  and  then 
we  would  both  laugh.  She  seemed  to  relish 
the  idea  that  I  did  not  like  the  rice  and 
that  I  was  eating  it  because  she  had  fixed 
it  and  told  me  to  do  so.  I  made  this  fact 
very  plain  to  her  by  the  faces  I  would 
make  in  swallowing  it.  She  confessed  af 
terwards  to  a  little  malice  in  forcing  me  to 
eat  it,  and  later,  when  I  really  began  to 
like  it,  she  would  often  say,  "  Will  you 
have  your  rice  with  cream  and  sugar  on  it, 
or  a  little  pepper,  Mr.  Palmer?  " 

After  dinner  we  went  on  the  porch, 
where  Bud  brought  us  pipes.  "  I  hope  you 
like  the  pipe,"  he  said  as  he  handed  me 

47 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

an  old  brier-root ;  "  we  have  given  up  ci 
gars  lately — on  account  of  the  tariff,"  he 
added  with  a  big,  good-natured  laugh.  I 
said  I  did;  that  it  was  my  chief est  luxury 
in  my  university  days,  and  I  still  preferred 
it  to  cigars.  Colonel  Turpin  said  that  if  I 
did  not  object  to  music  Ellen  would  play 
us  something;  that  she  always  did  when  he 
took  his  after-dinner  smoke.  I  said  that  I 
could  not  imagine  greater  luxury,  and  I 
leaned  back  prepared  to  undergo  any 
amount  of  torture  and  outrage  to  my  ar 
tistic  nature,  for  I  knew  something  of 
music,  as  my  father  had  been  a  splendid 
performer  on  the  piano  and  had  given  me 
the  benefit  of  his  knowledge.  Instead  of 
hymns  and  waltzes,  however,  there  floated 
through  the  window  to  us  the  sweetest  notes 
I  seemed  ever  to  have  heard.  I  sat  dream 
ily  thinking  of  this  lovely  girl  and  her  odd 
surroundings  when  she  appeared  at  the 

48 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

window  and  asked  if  there  were  anything 
I  liked  especially. 

"  I  do  not  know  if  you  care  for  Chopin," 
she  said.  "  Father  does  not  know  it  is  Cho 
pin,  but  it  is  the  music  he  likes,  and  so  I 
always  play  some  of  the  nocturnes  for 
him." 

"  The  truth  is,  Miss  Turpin,"  I  said,  "  I 
did  not  think  of  what  you  were  playing, 
but  was  merely  feeling  the  effect  of  the 
music.  Your  playing  seemed  to  me  to  be 
a  part  of  the  scene  out  here,  as  if  it  were 
an  accompaniment  to  the  moon  in  its  wan 
derings  or  to  the  stars  in  the  silent 
watches." 

My  speech  sounded  like  flattery,  and  I 
blushed  as  the  thought  came  to  me.  "  I 
hope  you  will  forgive  my  praise  if  it 
seemed  extravagant,"  I  said,  "  but  I  only 
said  what  was  in  my  heart  without  reflect 
ing  that  you  might  take  it  for  flattery."  I 

49 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

had  been  accustomed  to  pay  compliments 
at  will,  and  sometimes,  I  fear,  was  given 
to  flattery,  but  I  would  not  have  had  this 
young  girl  to  think  me  guilty  of  such  ill- 
breeding  for  anything  in  the  world. 

"  If  that  is  the  way  you  feel,"  she  an 
swered  sweetly,  "  I  will  play  something 
for  you  and  trust  to  pleasing  father,"  and 
going  back  to  the  piano  she  played  some 
thing — I  do  not  know  what.  Bud  said  he 
had  never  heard  her  play  it  before,  and 
though  I  asked  her  often  after  that  to  play 
it  for  me  again,  I  never  heard  it;  yet  the 
strains  even  now  go  through  my  head  when 
I  sit  in  the  moonlight  or  lie  awake  at  nights 
thinking  of  Ellen. 

She  disappeared  after  a  while,  to  clear 
the  table  and  wash  the  dishes,  I  thought 
with  some  resentment.  Colonel  Turpin 
talked  politics,  and  I  soon  learned  that  he 
was  decided  in  his  views,  though  somewhat 

50 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

mixed  in  his  politics.  I  found  out  that  he 
was  addicted  to  the  habit  of  writing 
"  pieces  "  for  the  papers,  but  never  under 
his  own  name.  He  chose  rather  such  noms 
de  plume  as  "  Vox  Populi,"  "  Citizen,"  or 
sometimes  "  Patriot."  He  did  not  believe 
that  writing  was  the  profession  of  a  gen 
tleman  unless  one  could  hide  one's  identity ; 
yet  he  felt  that  the  public  should  be  edu 
cated  by  this  means.  He  was  a  Democrat, 
but  believed  in  a  high  protective  tariff;  he 
disclaimed  being  a  jingo,  but  thought  it  the 
duty  of  the  Government  to  avenge  the 
wrongs  of  any  people  persecuted  by  a  for 
eign  power.  And  so  the  night  wore  on  and 
the  moon  arose  higher  in  the  heavens.  I 
heard  Bud  and  the  Colonel  discuss  the  work 
on  the  farm,  and  judged  that  the  former 
and  two  or  three  negroes  did  it  all  save  in 
the  picking  season.  There  was  a  contradic 
tion  about  this  strange  household  which  was 

51 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

perplexing  to  me.  Where  had  Miss  Ellen 
mastered  the  piano?  and  why  was  Bud, 
with  the  apparent  education  of  a  cultured 
gentleman,  wearing  jeans  and  doing  the 
plough  work  in  the  fields?  I  had  begun  to 
weary  of  conjecture  when  Miss  Ellen  re 
turned  and  offered  to  show  me  the  view 
from  the  cupola.  It  was  a  weary  climb 
to  the  top  of  that  old  house,  but  one  felt 
repaid  on  reaching  there  as  the  panorama 
unfolded  itself  in  the  moonlight.  The 
moon  was  but  a  fortnight  old  and  the  night 
cloudless.  Miss  Ellen  pointed  out  to  me 
the  field  where  the  army  of  Sherman  had 
camped  on  its  famous  march  to  the  sea,  but 
had  not  a  word  of  criticism  to  make  of  that 
great  General.  She  told  me  of  the  strong 
young  manhood  that  was  developing  to  re 
generate  the  land,  and  seemed  to  think  the 
freedom  of  the  slaves  a  blessing  to  both 
people.  She  promised  to  take  me  to  the 

52 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

negro  settlement  some  day  and  show  me 
how  they  lived.  She  had  a  Sunday-school 
there  of  colored  girls,  "  For,"  she  said,  "  it 
is  going  to  be  through  the  mothers  of  the 
colored  race  that  we  will  some  day  reach 
it  and  elevate  it  to  what  is  good  and  moral." 
I  stood  spellbound,  as  it  were,  by  her  ear 
nestness  and  faith,  and  all  my  preconceived 
opinions  began  to  fall  away  under  the  in 
fluence  of  this  little,  brown-eyed  girl  in 
a  gingham  gown. 

That  night  after  I  retired  to  my  room 
the  instincts  of  the  newspaper  man,  which 
had  lain  dormant  since  arriving  at  the 
Pines,  began  to  stir,  and  I  could  not  help 
thinking  what  a  picture  this  household 
would  make  if  held  up  before  a  Boston 
audience.  But  to  turn  these  kindly  people 
into  an  object-lesson  'would  be  the  basest 
ingratitude.  Yet  put  this  idea  from  me  as 
I  would,  it  would  recur  to  me  during  the 

53 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

night,  and  scene  after  scene,  with  Ellen  and 
Bud  always  in  the  foreground,  kept  shift 
ing  themselves  across  the  mental  canvas, 
and  argue  as  I  would  that  to  make  use  of 
this  homely  life  with  its  poverty  and  pride, 
its  dignified  endurance  of  changed  condi 
tions,  as  the  subject  of  a  news-letter  would 
be  an  ill  return  for  the  hospitality  I  had 
received,  yet  I  could  not  put  aside  the  long 
ing  to  pen  the  picture  as  I  saw  it  and  to 
paint  it  boldly,  in  order  that  others  might 
see  it  in  the  same  light  as  it  had  appealed 
to  me. 

The  next  morning  I  was  up  early,  the 
sun,  in  fact  being  only  an  hour  ahead  of 
me.  Thinking  it  would  be  an  excellent 
chance  to  see  something  of  the  place  and 
study  its  character  more  in  detail,  for  I  had 
become  deeply  interested  in  everything  con 
nected  with  the  Pines,  I  dressed  hastily 

54 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

and  started  for  a  brisk  walk.  As  I  was 
making  the  half  circuit  of  the  house  by  way 
of  exploration  I  came  upon  Miss  Ellen, 
carrying  an  armful  of  kindling  wood. 

"  Why,  Miss  Turpin,"  I  cried,  "  I  had 
no  idea  of  finding  you  up  at  this  hour." 

"  You  forget  the  dual  character  I  play," 
she  laughed.  "  I  am  not  early,  however, 
For  it  is  late.  But  you  are  responsible  for 
it,  as  you  demoralized  the  household  last 
night  in  encouraging  father  to  discuss  poli 
tics.  Doubtless  you  saw  all  his  fallacies, 
but  was  kind  enough  not  to  point  them  out 
to  him." 

I  had  been  much  entertained,  I  said, 
though  his  politics  appeared  to  be  some 
what  mixed,  and  his  ideas  were  quite  diif  er- 
ent  from  those  I  had  expected  to  hear  him 
express. 

"  Yes,"  she  answered,  "  he  is  half  Demo 
crat  and  half  Republican,  with  a  dash  here 

55 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

and  there  of  Populism,  I  fear,  but  it  makes 
him  very  angry  to  tell  him  so,  as  he  thinks 
himself  a  hide-bound  Democrat.  He  can 
never  forget  that  Henry  Clay  believed  in 
a  protective  tariff.  I  think  next  to  Gen 
eral  Oglethorpe  he  admires  the  Kentuckian 
more  than  any  of  our  historical  characters. 
But  I  must  not  allow  myself  to  be  dragged 
into  political  argument,  for  I  see  you  are 
ready  to  take  up  the  cudgel  for  Clay,  no 
doubt,  and  since  you  have  come  bother 
ing  about  so  early  you  must  make  yourself 
useful."  She  then  showed  me  the  wood 
pile  and  told  me  to  bring  enough  to  the 
kitchen  to  last  two  full  days. 

"  Miss  Turpin,"  I  said  a  little  later  as 
I  entered  the  kitchen  with  my  arms  loaded 
down  with  short  oak  logs,  "is  it  really 
necessary  for  you  to  do  this  work? " 

She  looked  with  surprise  at  me,  and  I 
thought  I  saw  a  faint  color  come  to  the 

56 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

surface  of  her  skin,  but  I  could  not  tell, 
for  she  was  lighting  the  fire.  She  saw  that 
I  was  earnest  in  my  question  and,  still 
kneeling  in  front  of  the  stove,  she  turned 
her  frank  face  towards  me  and  said: 

"  I  would  resent  the  question,  Mr.  Pal 
mer,  did  I  not  know  that  a  kind  heart 
prompted  it.  Yes,"  she  added,  "  it  is  as 
necessary  for  me  to  do  this  as  it  is  for  Bud 
to  plough.  Of  course,  you  must  have  heard 
from  your  relatives  that  the  Turpins  were 
greatly  reduced.  The  house  is  heavily 
mortgaged,  and  to  meet  the  interest  we 
have  to  save  in  every  legitimate  way.  Bud 
wants  to  hire  a  cook,  but  I  will  not  listen 
to  him.  Father  is  determined  that  the  mo 
ment  he  defaults  on  the  interest  that  min 
ute  he  will  give  up  the  Pines  to  the  owners, 
for  such  they  are  who  hold  the  mortgage 
on  it.  And  oh,  Mr.  Palmer,  you  don't 
know  what  it  would  mean  to  father  and 

57 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

mother  to  move  from  here  now.  Besides 
too  we  would  be  no  better  off,  even  worse, 
I  think,  for  we  would  have  no  place  at  all. 
Bud  and  I  would  be  glad  to  go  into  the 
world  and  run  our  chances,  but  it  can't  be 
thought  of,  not  now."  She  sighed  and  con 
tinued  to  make  the  fire. 

By  degrees  I  found  out  all  there  was  to 
be  known  of  the  family,  for  there  were  no 
skeletons  there.  After  the  war  it  seems 
that  Colonel  Turpin  had  lived  in  a  reck 
less  sort  of  way,  still  keeping  up  the  style 
of  living  he  had  grown  accustomed  to  be 
fore  the  change  of  fortune  in  the  Southern 
planter's  life.  It  was  not  until  Bud  had 
finished  his  college  course  and  Miss  Ellen 
had  completed  her  studies  that  the  real 
condition  of  the  family  became  known.  It 
was  these  two  who  had  finally  saved  the 
plantation  and  home  by  pledging  the  inter 
est  on  the  mortgage.  There  was  one  more 

58 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

child,  a  boy  of  sixteen.  The  brother  and 
sister  were  keeping  him  at  college  now 
and  had  planned  that  he  should  take  the 
course  in  law  after  his  academic  studies 
were  completed.  Was  there  more  courage 
in  New  England,  I  wondered,  and  was  it 
not  the  blood  of  the  cavalier  that  was  tell 
ing  now?  She  had  given  me  her  confidence 
without  restraint,  for  she  believed  me  then 
to  be  one  with  the  Kentucky  Palmers,  and 
I,  weak  creature,  dared  not  disabuse  her 
mind  for  fear  of  losing  that  confidence  and 
friendship  which  this  fictitious  relationship 
had  inspired. 

"  And  now,  Mr.  Inquisitive,"  she  said, 
"  if  you  have  finished  your  catechism,  I 
will  mix  the  batter  and  you  will  go  for  a 
long  walk  and  get  an  appetite  for  break 
fast." 

She  had  rolled  up  her  sleeves  in  order 
to  knead  the  dough,  and  with  her  arms 

59 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

bared  to  the  elbow  she  pointed  out  to  me 
a  road  which  she  advised  me  to  take,  tell 
ing  me  it  would  bring  me  to  the  old  Ogle- 
thorpe  Bridge. 

"  But  your  father  promised  that  you 
should  take  me  there,"  I  said,  "  and  that  is 
a  debt  of  honor  you  must  pay." 

'  Very  well,"  she  laughed,  as  if  prepar 
ing  to  go,  "  but  you  will  go  without  your 
breakfast,  and,  what  is  worse,  Bud  will 
call  you  out  for  making  him  lose  his,  for  he 
comes  from  the  fields  hungry  and  out  of 
temper  sometimes." 

"  I  would  not  mind  going  without  mine," 
I  said,  "  but  Heaven  forbid  that  so  fine  a 
fellow  should  go  without  his." 

Tears  came  into  her  eyes,  but  she  soon 
brushed  them  away,  and  with  a  smile  said : 

'  You  touched  a  weak  spot  then.  Bud 
is  the  salt  of  the  earth,  and  he  deserves  to 
find  diamonds  in  this  dull  soil  instead  of 

60 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

fighting  out  his  life  for  a  few  pounds  of 
cotton." 

I  started  down  the  road  which  she  had 
pointed  out,  wondering  what  had  come  over 
me  when  my  life  in  Boston  had  seemed  a 
thing  forgotten  in  a  few  hours  and  my 
work  and  literary  career  become  a  sec 
ondary  matter  with  me.  I  passed  through 
an  old  orchard,  where  the  opening  apple- 
buds  lent  their  fragrance  to  the  air,  and  by 
my  side  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  unseen 
presence  of  Miss  Ellen  walked. 

The  dogwood  was  blossoming  down  by 
the  branch,  and  when  I  reached  the  pine- 
trees  their  crisp  needles,  stirring  in  the 
breeze,  seemed  singing  some  blithesome  air 
instead  of  wailing  mournfully,  as  they  had 
done  the  evening  previous.  I  saw  her  lit 
tle  rose  garden,  and  picking  the  only 
flower  then  in  bloom  hid  it  away  beneath 
my  wraistcoat.  There  was  an  impassioned 

61 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

picturesqueness  in  the  unkept  lawn,  and 
out  of  the  cedar  and  underbrush  I  might 
have  expected  to  see  some  Dryad  come.  I 
found  the  bridge  by  the  path  Miss  Ellen 
had  pointed  out,  and  for  an  hour  sat  re 
clining  upon  its  ivy-covered  arch  conjur 
ing  up  such  scenes  as  I  imagined  had  been 
enacted  here  when  its  owners  lived  in  af 
fluence,  and  when  women  in  silks  and  satin 
and  powdered  hair  sat  in  the  oaken  dining- 
hall  and  danced  the  stately  minuet  on  rich 
carpets  and  under  many  lights.  In  my 
mental  vision  I  thought  I  saw  one  with  the 
features  of  Miss  Ellen  who  glided  past  all 
others  and  stood  in  gay-colored  brocade 
waiting  to  be  wooed  like  a  princess.  The 
picture  faded,  and  I  saw  the  real  Ellen, 
none  the  less  regal,  but  in  place  of  the  scorn 
the  other  wore  upon  her  lips  there  was  a 
gentle  patience,  and  about  her  form  there 
hung  a  simple  cotton  gown  more  beautiful 

62 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

than  the  stately  gown  woven  in  my  dream 
picture.  I  must  have  been  asleep,  then,  af 
ter  all,  I  thought,  looking  at  my  watch, 
for  it  was  past  the  time  when  she  told  me 
to  be  back.  Hurrying  home  the  way  I 
came,  I  found  them  seated  at  the  break 
fast-table,  and  I  pleaded  guilty  to  an  early 
morning  nap  among  the  woods. 

"  And  your  dream?  "  she  asked,  as  if 
reading  what  was  in  my  mind. 

1  Was  of  a  beautiful  woman  clad  in 
silks,"  I  said,  "  and  she  stood  in  an  old 
hall  waiting  for  a  prince  to  come." 

"  Ah,  what  a  sad  awakening!  "  she  said, 
laughing  sweetly. 

"  But  wait  until  I  tell  you  of  the  change 
that  came  '  o'er  the  spirit  of  my  dream,' ' 
I  added. 

"  And  I  will  some  day  show  you  the 
first  scene  of  your  picture,"  she  said  softly. 

"And  the  last  part?" 

63 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

"  I  do  not  know  what  it  is  and  you  have 
not  told  me." 

"  But  I  will  some  day,  and  "  —looking 
into  her  deep  brown  eyes  and  almost  speak 
ing  in  a  whisper—"  I  like  it  better  than  the 
first  portion  of  my  picture." 

I  did  not  see  Miss  Ellen  alone  again  that 
day.  Squire  Hawkins  called  in  the  after 
noon  and  stayed  to  dinner.  He  was  a 
kindly  looking  man,  not  over  fifty,  I  should 
say,  and  he  wore  a  prosperous  air,  and  he 
seemed  to  me  to  have  seen  a  good  deal  of 
the  world.  Miss  Ellen  did  not  play  for  us 
that  evening,  for  she  and  the  Squire  took 
a  long  walk  in  the  moonlight,  and  when  she 
came  home  she  went  to  her  room,  only 
stopping  to  say  good-night  as  she  passed 
us  on  the  porch.  The  Squire  stayed  a  while 
longer  and  entertained  us  with  stories  of 
his  university  days  in  Germany,  where  he 
had  been  educated.  He  seemed  to  treat 

64 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

Miss  Ellen,  when  he  was  with  her,  in  such 
a  gentle,  fatherly  way  that  I  laughed  at 
the  idle  gossip  that  I  had  heard  about  his 
courting  her.  I  enjoyed  his  company  and 
laughed  heartily  over  his  stories,  which 
were  good  and  well  told.  He  had  some 
good  cigars,  which  Bud  and  I  enjoyed,  but 
the  Colonel  would  not  smoke  one,  for  he 
said  they  would  upset  his  nerves  and  make 
him  "  hanker  after  the  flesh-pots  of 
Egypt."  The  Squire  tried  to  banter  him 
out  of  his  resolution,  but  the  Colonel  was 
obdurate  and  stuck  to  the  pipe. 


65 


IV. 

EARLY  Sunday  morning  the  old  coach 
was  got  ready,  for  Miss  Ellen  sang  in  the 
church  choir,  and  we  had  to  make  an  early 
start  in  order  that  she  might  get  there  on 
time.  "  I  reckon  you  are  not  a  Church 
man,"  said  the  Colonel,  "  for,  if  I  remem 
ber  rightly,  the  Palmers  were  always  blue- 
back  Presbyterians;  but  most  people  down 
here  are  Episcopalians,  so  don't  you  go  un 
less  you  feel  so  inclined." 

I  acknowledged  to  being  a  member  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  but  expressed  a 
willingness — nay,  even  an  eagerness — to 
go,  for  I  knew  that  Miss  Ellen  would  not 
be  at  home.  The  drive  that  morning  was 
a  memorable  one.  Bud  sat  on  the  box 
and  did  the  driving,  with  Pickaninny  Sam 
by  his  side.  Colonel  and  Mrs.  Turpin, 
Miss  Ellen  and  I,  occupied  the  seats  on  the 

66 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

inside.  I  had  seen  the  George  Washing 
ton  coach  at  Mount  Vernon,  and  I  could 
not  help  thinking  of  it  as  I  looked  at  this 
heirloom  of  the  Turpins.  I  might  have 
thought  that  it  had  once  been  used  by 
General  Oglethorpe  himself,  so  ancient  did 
it  look.  The  Colonel  assured  me  in  a  most 
serious  vein  that  it  had  never  had  that 
distinction,  though  there  was  a  tradition 
in  the  family  that  it  had  been  occupied  by 
General  Washington  on  his  famous  visit  to 
Fort  Augusta  after  the  days  of  the  Revo 
lution,  when  he  stayed  at  Meadow  Garden, 
the  home  of  the  Waltons,  the  head  of  which 
family  had  been  one  of  those  to  sign  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  The  coach 
was  still  strong  and  did  not  look  out  of 
place  as  it  rambled  through  the  pine  for 
ests,  but  it  would  come  near  to  upsetting  at 
times  when  going  down  hills  where  the 
roads  were  washed  into  deep  trenches. 

67 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

Every  now  and  then  Bud  would  bring  the 
team  to  a  stand  and,  telling  us  that  the 
trace  or  some  other  part  of  the  harness 
had  broken,  would  get  down  and,  taking 
a  bundle  of  twine  from  his  pocket,  tie  the 
ends  together,  and  soon  we  would  start 
again.  I  cared  not  how  many  times  the 
traces  might  snap  or  how  long  it  took  us  to 
get  to  church  while  opposite  to  me  sat  Miss 
Ellen,  her  eyes  laughing  into  mine  every 
time  the  horses  were  brought  to  a  stop. 

"  Bud,  the  harness  is  getting  pretty  old," 
said  the  Colonel  with  grave  dignity  when 
Bud  halted  the  coach  for  the  fifth  time,  I 
think,  and  just  within  sight  of  the  old 
church. 

"  Yes,  father,  it  must  be  considerably 

older  than  I  am,"  answered  Bud  cheerfully 

as  he  used  the  last  bit  of  twine  he  had. 

"  But  it  will  hold  together  another   six 

68 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

months,  I  reckon,"  smiling  into  the  coach 
at  Miss  Ellen  and  me. 

"  Do  you  think  the  coach  will  hold  to 
gether  that  long,  Bud? "  nervously  asked 
Mrs.  Turpin,  for  her  faith  in  the  vehicle 
was  but  little;  indeed,  she  had  suggested 
using  the  wagon  before  we  started. 

"  How  can  you  ask  such  a  question, 
Mary?"  said  the  Colonel,  showing  annoy 
ance.  "  Has  it  not  lasted  ever  since  George 
Washington  visited  Augusta.  It  will  be 
here  when  we  are  gone  and  serve  your 
grandchildren  well  yet,  I'll  be  bound,"  at 
which  Miss  Ellen  colored  and  Bud  laughed 
heartily. 

Bud  drove  to  the  back  of  the  church, 
where  there  was  a  long  row  of  horse-stalls. 
There  were  several  old  coaches  standing 
by,  but  none  as  ancient  or  as  grand  as  ours, 
and  I  found  myself  taking  pride  in  the 

69 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

apparent  antiquity  of  the  family  I  was  vis 
iting,  and  remember  quite  well  sneering  at 
the  newly  painted  buggies  which  were 
lined  along  the  fence.  We  not  only  had  a 
pew  well  up  under  the  chancel,  but  occu 
pied  a  place  of  honor  among  the  middle- 
aisle  aristocracy.  I  had  never  heard  Miss 
Ellen  sing  and  did  not  know  now  whether 
she  was  soprano  or  alto.  I  was  tempted 
sorely  to  look  around  just  once  to  see  her 
in  the  organ  loft,  but  so  many  eyes  were 
fixed  on  me  that  I  kept  mine  fixed  relig 
iously  on  the  minister.  After  sermon  the 
Turpins  held  quite  a  reception  under  the 
pines  in  the  yard,  and  I  was  given  an  op 
portunity  of  seeing  in  what  respect  they 
were  held  in  the  county.  Several  of  the 
young  men  invited  me  to  hunt  with  them 
and  offered  me  their  guns,  shells,  and  dogs. 
"  We  know  Bud  is  pretty  busy,"  they 
would  say,  "  so  if  you  say  the  word  we  will 

70 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

ride  by  for  you  some  day  this  week."  Miss 
Ellen  was  the  centre  of  attraction,  and 
every  man  tried  to  edge  himself  within  the 
circle  that  surrounded  her  in  order  to  re 
ceive  one  passing  remark  from  her  at  least. 
She  seemed  entirely  unconscious  of  the  in 
fluence  she  exerted  in  her  limited  sphere, 
yet  apparently  took  this  homage  for 
granted,  or  so  it  appeared  to  me. 

"  We  must  have  a  dance  in  the  hall  while 
Mr.  Palmer  is  here,"  I  heard  her  saying  to 
some  of  the  girls  who  were  standing  near, 
at  which  they  immediately  set  up  such  a 
clatter  and  chatter  as  a  hundred  sparrows 
might  be  expected  to  make  upon  the  first 
warm  day  in  spring.  The  following  Fri 
day  was  settled  as  the  day,  and  all,  boys 
and  girls  as  well,  agreed  to  come  Thursday 
and  help  cook  the  supper  for  the  party, 
and  each  agreed  too  to  bring  something. 
Margaret  Robertson  said  she  would  bring 

71 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

all  the  sugar  needed  for  the  cake,  Bert 
Simmons  promised  three  quarts  of  cream 
for  the  sillabub,  and  Jim  Barrett  said  he 
would  make  up  the  rest  that  might  be 
needed ;  Ruth  Howard  would  donate  flour, 
and  another  offered  chickens  for  the  salad; 
and  so  on  down  the  list. 

"  Be  sure  to  bring  them  picked,  George 
Adams,"  said  Miss  Ellen,  laughing,  to  the 
lad  who  had  donated  the  chickens,  "  for 
if  Sally  Stovall  is  there  you  will  be  of  no 
assistance,  as  we  know  from  experience. 
And  two  of  you  girls  must  come  prepared 
to  spend  the  night  of  the  ball  to  help  clear 
away  the  remnants  the  next  day."  All 
volunteered,  and  Miss  Ellen  had  a  hard 
time  to  choose  between  them,  so  highly  was 
this  honor  prized.  The  rector,  coming  out 
and  hearing  what  all  the  chatter  was  about, 
delivered  a  lecture  upon  the  frivolity  of 
youth  and  ended  by  saying: 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

"  And  if  no  one  has  seen  about  the  mu 
sic,  I  promise  to  furnish  that  as  my  share. 
I  will  bring  my  old  violin  and  be  one  of  the 
band  myself,"  which  announcement  was 
greeted  with  applause,  for  I  heard  after 
wards  that  no  one  could  keep  such  good 
time  as  Mr.  Lamb,  and  the  darky  band  al 
ways  played  better  when  he  led  it. 

That  afternoon  a  number  of  older  peo 
ple  in  the  county  called,  and  Miss  Ellen 
served  tea  on  the  shady  side  of  the  house 
under  the  porch.  Later  Bud  and  I  rode 
horseback.  He  took  me  to  see  the  camp 
ing-ground  of  General  Sherman,  which 
Miss  Ellen  had  pointed  out  to  me  the  night 
of  my  arrival,  and  from  there  we  took  a 
circuitous  route  home.  He  told  me  many 
of  the  difficulties  of  farming  in  the  county. 
We  passed  a  number  of  farmers,  and  from 
each  I  learned  something  and  stored  up  in 
my  mind  many  a  quaint  anecdote  for  my 

73 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

letters  from  these  simple  country  folk. 
One  time  when  Bud  had  ridden  forward 
to  consult  someone  about  getting  extra 
hands  I  rode  up  to  a  stolid  looking  indi 
vidual  whom  I  saw  sitting  on  a  rail  fence 
near  by  whittling  a  stick.  His  beard  and 
hair  were  unkempt  and  his  whole  attitude 
was  one  of  supreme  indifference  to  his  sur 
roundings. 

"  Good-morning,"  I  said. 

"  Same  to  you,"  he  answered  without 
looking  up  to  see  who  had  addressed  him. 

"How  are  your  crops  this  year?"  I 
asked. 

"Poor,"  was  his  monosyllabic  reply. 

"Good  last  year?" 

"  Nup."    With  maddening  indifference. 

"  I  hope  your  crops  will  be  better  next 
year,"  I  ventured  again. 

"  Doubt  it,"  was  all  he  would  answer. 
The  field  back  of  him  did  not  look  en- 

74 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

couraging.  Despairing  finally  of  getting 
any  information  from  him,  I  drew  rein,  pre 
paring  to  join  Bud,  adding,  however,  be 
fore  leaving,— 

"  Well,  that's  too  bad." 

With  sudden  animation  he  stopped  whit 
tling  for  a  moment  to  look  up  and  re 
mark,— 

'Taint  as  bad  as  you  think,  my  friend; 
I  don't  own  this  land." 

I  rode  off  laughing  at  this  quaint  con 
ception  of  the  value  of  land.  He  had  not 
intended  to  be  either  witty  or  humorous, 
but  was  sincere  in  trying  to  disabuse  my 
mind  of  a  false  impression  I  might  have  of 
the  extent  of  his  troubles.  When  Bud 
rode  up  he  explained  to  me  that  the  man 
only  farmed  on  shares,  and  had  he  owned 
the  land  he  would  have  been  held  respon 
sible  for  the  interest  on  the  mortgage.  In 
deed,  he  said  that  to  own  certain  of  the 

75 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

land  around  that  section  was  regarded  as 
a  calamity. 

That  ride  with  Bud  gave  me  much  ma 
terial  for  a  letter,  and  when  I  went  to  my 
room  I  wrote  until  after  midnight.  I 
touched  only  on  the  general  condition  of 
the  planters  and  petty  farmers  and  made 
use  of  such  apt  comments  as  I  had  chanced 
to  pick  up  away  from  the  Pines.  I  read 
and  reread  my  letter  to  make  sure  it  could 
not  be  traced  to  Oglethorpe  or  its  imme 
diate  vicinity.  I  was  satisfied  that  it  would 
describe  many  of  the  older  counties  in  the 
State,  but  looking  back  now  it  seems  to  me 
that  I  was  too  general  in  my  deductions 
and  that  the  illustrations,  while  unique,  did 
not  give  a  proper  conception  either  of  the 
manners  of  the  people  or  of  the  conditions 
of  the  country,  save  in  the  exceptional  case. 
But  I  had  been  trained  to  look  for  the 
exception,  I  fear,  which  I  think  is  the  main 

76 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

fault  of  all  young  people  who  have  a  pen 
put  into  their  hands,  who  are  prone  to 
point  out  the  ridiculous  side  of  life  instead 
of  seeing  the  manhood  and  the  strength 
which  often  underlie  conditions,  no  matter 
how  strange  they  may  appear  at  first. 

But  my  work  for  that  week  was  done, 
and  I  arose  the  next  morning  with  the  feel 
ing  that  I  could  do  with  my  time  as  I 
wished  without  trying  to  remember  inci 
dents  or  conversations  which  might  make 
interesting  reading  matter  in  Boston.  I 
rode  to  the  station  and  mailed  my  letter, 
and  on  my  return  I  found  Miss  Ellen  en 
gaged,  as  she  said,  in  putting  the  house  to 
rights,  "  For  if  we  leave  all  until  the  last 
day,  very  little  will  be  done,"  she  said,  and 
so  I  spent  the  day  lending  a  hand  here  or 
lifting  a  piece  of  furniture  there.  Miss 
Ellen  mended  many  an  old  lace  curtain 
that  day,  while  I  would  sit,  pipe  in  mouth, 

77 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

watching  her  fingers  move  backward  and 
forward  and  keeping  my  eyes  on  her  face 
when  her  own  were  fixed  on  the  work  in 
her  lap.  I  was  on  the  point  several  times 
of  telling  her  why  I  had  come  South,  and 
to  confess  that  there  was  no  kinship  pos 
sibly  with  the  Kentucky  Palmers,  but  af 
ter  several  efforts,  which  really  got  no 
further  than  planning  them,  I  would  fore 
go  all  determination  to  play  a  strictly  hon 
orable  role,  and  then  too  I  feared  it  might 
put  Colonel  Turpin  in  a  false  position  as 
well  as  myself,  or  so  I  chose  then  to  think. 
That  evening  Miss  Ellen  played  more  beau 
tifully  than  I  had  ever  heard  her  play  be 
fore,  and  she  sang  some  old-time  melodies 
for  us  too.  Her  voice  was  sweet  and  she 
sang  simply  and  without  effort.  Before 
bedtime  we  had  gathered  around  the  piano 
and  sang  glees,  even  the  Colonel  remem 
bering  enough  from  his  old  Princeton  days 

78 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

to  lend  discord  occasionally.  It  was  an  un 
eventful  but  happy  day,  and  it  swept  me 
many  leagues  nearer  to  the  goal  to  which 
I  had  been  drifting  unconsciously  since  the 
first  minute  I  had  seen  Miss  Ellen  and 
looked  into  her  honest  brown  eyes. 

The  next  morning  some  of  the  young 
men  of  the  county,  Bud's  friends,  came  for 
me  to  go  hunting  with  them.  I  got  into 
some  of  Bud's  hunting  togs,  and  with  his 
gun  on  my  shoulder  rode  with  them  to  the 
hunting  lodge,  from  which  point  we  scoured 
the  country  for  many  miles  that  day.  The 
sport  was  new  to  me  on  account  of  the 
game  we  found.  I  had  indifferent  luck, 
however,  though  the  others  filled  their 
bags  with  plover,  robins,  doves,  and  larks. 
There  were  plenty  of  blackbirds,  but  we 
scorned  shooting  these,  though  I  was  told 
they  make  a  good  pie,  which  is  a  favorite 
dish  with  the  colored  hands  on  the  farms. 

79 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

I  saw  something  of  each  member  of  the 
party  during  the  day  and  found  them  all, 
to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  in  love  with 
Miss  Ellen.  Jim  gave  me  much  informa 
tion  about  the  others,  but  added, — 

"  She  just  laughs  at  them  all,  and  won't 
even  let  them  pay  her  compliments,  as  they 
do  to  the  other  girls." 

"And  you?  "I  said. 

"  Oh,  me.  She  would  not  even  look  at 
me,"  said  the  manly  young  fellow,  look 
ing  me  squarely  in  the  face,  not  ashamed 
to  confess  the  hopelessness  of  his  love.  I 
made  up  my  mind  that  if  it  ever  came  in 
my  way  to  do  Jim  a  good  turn,  no  matter 
how  my  own  suit  came  out,  for  I  was  now 
intent  upon  winning  Miss  Ellen,  I  would 
do  it  for  his  open  and  honest  confession. 

We  were  a  happy  party  as  we  lunched 
at  the  lodge.  We  barbecued  our  robins  and 
some  of  the  doves  on  little  spits  over  a 

80 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

charcoal  fire  and  stewed  some  with  rice. 
We  rode  home  early,  however,  more  to  see 
Miss  Ellen,  I  think,  than  for  any  other 
reason.  Each  would  have  left  all  his  game 
at  her  feet,  but  she  would  not  have  it  so, 
but  said  she  would  take  what  I  had  killed 
in  part  payment  for  my  board,  which  inno 
cent  remark  brought  a  deep  flush  to  my 
cheek,  remembering,  as  I  did,  my  unhappy 
mistake  when  I  first  arrived  at  the  Pines. 
We  described  our  sport  and  she  showed  in 
terest  in  everything  we  said  and  all  we  had 
done.  Presently,  looking  at  the  sun,  she 
exclaimed : 

"  Come,  go  home,  you  boys,  for  I  am  not 
going  to  ask  you  to  stay  to  dinner,  and  be 
here  early  Thursday  morning,  or  I  will  not 
dance  with  any  of  you  at  the  party."  It 
took  them  but  a  few  minutes  to  get  their 
horses  and  disappear  down  the  road. 

"  And  you,  sir,"  she  said,  turning  to  me 

81 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

as  we  lost  sight  of  the  others,  "  what  are 
you  going  to  do  in  the  way  of  reparation, 
now  that  you  and  your  friends  have  put  me 
back  in  my  work? " 

"  Set  the  table  and  bring  the  wood,"  I 
cried. 

"  Come,  you  shall  'set  the  table,  for  the 
wood  has  been  brought  in  already."  I  fol 
lowed  her  to  the  dining-room,  where  she 
threw  me  the  table-cloth. 

"  Be  careful,"  she  laughed,  "  for  it  will 
not  bear  rough  handling,  though  I  dare  say 
father  would  tell  you  that  it  has  lasted  since 
General  Oglethorpe  breakfasted  off  it  and 
therefore  will  last  after  we  are  dead." 

And  so  we  set  the  table,  Miss  Ellen  run 
ning  to  the  kitchen  every  now  and  then  and 
coming  back  to  straighten  the  knives  and 
forks,  telling  me  that  men  were  no  earthly 
good  about  a  house.  Once  our  hands 
touched  while  placing  the  plates,  and  in- 

82 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

stantly,  as  if  by  instinct,  we  faced  each 
other  and  our  eyes  met.  After  that  she 
kept  on  the  other  side  of  the  table  from  me 
and  later  sent  me  upstairs  to  dress  for  din 
ner.  When  I  came  down  there  seemed  to 
be  a  glow  on  her  cheek  and  in  her  hair  there 
was  stuck  a  wild  rose  which  I  had  brought 
her  from  the  woods. 

The  next  three  days  all  was  bustle.  The 
boys  and  girls  came  on  Thursday,  each 
bringing  something  in  a  basket.  So  much 
cooking  I  had  never  seen.  One  was  put 
to  beat  the  whites  of  the  eggs  and  another 
the  yolks.  Someone  was  detailed  to  mix 
the  cake  and  still  another  to  watch  it  after 
it  had  been  put  into  the  oven.  Margaret 
Robertson  was  given  a  squad  and  ordered 
to  decorate  the  hall  with  greens.  The  jelly 
was  made  and  someone  was  sent  with  it  to 
the  springhouse,  where  it  was  left  to  cool 
arid  harden.  Every  now  and  then  the  Col- 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

onel  would  appear  at  the  kitchen  door  to 
tell  us  what  times  they  used  to  have  before 
the  war  when  he  was  a  boy. 

That  night  when  all  were  gone  and  Bud 
had  fallen  asleep  in  a  chair  Miss  Ellen  and 
I  went  on  the  lawn  to  look  at  the  moon. 

"  Miss  Ellen,"  I  said,  "  I  am  happy  here, 
and  I  hate  to  leave  the  Pines." 

"  Why  do  you  talk  of  going?  "  she  said, 
her  voice  subdued  and  her  face  turned  away. 

"  Because  I  do  not  want  to  outlive  my 
welcome,"  I  said. 

"  No  one  does  that  at  the  Pines.  As  you 
see,  there  is  not  much  to  offer,  but  our 
friends  are  always  welcome.  Bud  likes 
you,  and  father  seems  younger  since  you 


came." 


"And  you?"  I  said,  drawing  a  step 
nearer  to  her. 

"  Oh,  I."  She  gave  a  little  gasp  and 
ended  with  a  laugh.  "  It  is  as  easy  to  cook 

84 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

for  five  as  it  is  for  four,  so  don't  think  of 
leaving  on  my  account." 

"  That  is  what  hurts,"  I  said.  "  If  you 
did  not  have  to  do  this,  or  if  I  had  only 
known  you  long  enough  to  tell  you  all  that 
is  in  my  mind,"  I  ended  bitterly. 

She  held  up  her  finger  and,  laughing  in 
my  face,  said:  "  But  you  haven't,  you  know. 
So  you  must  stay  a  long  time  and  then 
come  back  some  day  and  tell  me,"  she 
added  roguishly. 

"  Never,"  I  said.  "  I  will  tell  you  be 
fore  I  leave  if  I  have  to  stay  the  year  out." 

"  Bravely  spoken,"  she  cried,  "  and  I 
will  do  what  I  can  to  make  you  take  Christ 
mas  dinner  with  us.  And  now  remember 
to  be  nice  to  all  the  homely  girls  you  see 
to-morrow  evening,  and  I  promise  not  to 
get  jealous  even  if  you  dance  with  the 
pretty  ones  as  well." 

85 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

Bud  was  still  asleep  when  we  got  back 
to  the  house.  We  roused  him  and  all  went 
quietly  to  bed.  I  did  not  sleep  much  that 
night,  and  somehow  I  did  not  think  Miss 
Ellen  did  either,  for  I  did  not  feel  as  lonely 
as  when  everybody  was  unconscious  in  that 
spacious  mansion. 


86 


V. 

THE  girls  who  had  been  invited  to  spend 
the  night  at  the  Pines  came  early  the  next 
day,  and  I  went  to  the  fields  with  Bud,  for 
Miss  Ellen  told  me  that  I  would  only  be 
in  the  way  if  I  stayed  at  home.    I  saw  Bud 
at  his  plough  and  watched  how  cheerfully 
he  did  the  work  of  the  day  laborer.     I  lit 
my  pipe  and  walked  several  of  the  fur 
rows  with  him,  and  then,  heart-sick  at  see 
ing  this  fine  specimen  of  young  manhood 
trudging  wearily  to  and  fro  in  the  thankless 
soil,  I  wandered  off  in  the  woods  to  dream 
of  Miss  Ellen  and  weave  schemes  for  the 
rest  of  the  family  when  she  would  have 
become  my  wife.     When?     The  question 
brought  with  it  a  flood  of  doubt,  for,  after 
all,  would  she  give  up  the  work  she  had 
undertaken  or  would  her  pride  allow  her 
to  accept  any  assistance  for  her  family.    I 

87 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

felt  there  were  depths  to  her  nature  which 
I  had  not  been  able  to  sound  in  the  short 
time  I  had  been  there.  For  fear  of  wound 
ing  her  I  had  remained  silent,  but  I  was 
now  resolved  to  speak  to  her  before  leav 
ing,  and  had  I  received  orders  that  night  to 
return  to  Boston  I  would  have  told  her  of 
my  boundless  love  and  asked  her  to  become 
my  wife.  Still  wavering  between  my  in 
clination  to  declare  my  love  and  fear  of  be 
ing  too  precipitate,  I  returned  to  the  Pines. 
I  did  not  see  her  until  dinner-time,  how 
ever,  then  only  during  a  hasty  meal,  after 
which  we  assisted  her  to  clear  the  table  and 
place  a  number  of  small  ones  on  the  side 
porch  for  the  party.  We  laid  the  collation 
for  the  evening's  entertainment  and  then 
went  to  dress. 

It  was  with  some  misgivings  that  I 
donned  my  evening  suit,  but  on  coming 
downstairs  I  found  the  Colonel  arrayed  in 

88 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

one  of  an  anterior  date  and  Bud  trans 
formed  from  the  ploughhand  of  the  morn 
ing  in  the  suit  he  had  worn  at  the  time  of  his 
graduation.  A  number  of  young  girls  had 
arrived  before  Miss  Ellen  came  down,  and 
the  men  were  assembled  at  the  foot  of  the 
stairs  as  if  waiting  for  her. 

My  heart  seemed  to  stop  beating  as  I 
saw  her  lithe  and  graceful  figure,  clad  in 
an  old  brocade  of  her  mother,  coming  to 
wards  me.  Her  hair  was  built  high  on 
her  head,  which  seemed  to  change  her  whole 
appearance  and  made  me  start  as  I  remem 
bered  my  dream  picture.  The  brocade  was 
faded,  but  its  gloss  and  richness  remained. 
Her  shoulders  were  bare  and  her  tilted  chin 
gave  her  the  air  of  some  quaint  old  me 
diaeval  picture  come  to  life. 

"  Am  I  not  in  keeping  with  the  house?  " 
she  asked,  interpreting  my  gaze. 

*  You  are  like  a  queen,"  I  said. 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

"  Then  you  shall  pay  me  court  for  this 
one  night,"  she  answered,  and  held  out  her 
hand  to  me,  which  I  took,  and  with  the 
manner  of  an  old-time  Southern  gentle 
man,  just  as  I  had  seen  Colonel  Turpin  do, 
I  bowed  low  and  for  a  moment  let  my  lips 
linger  on  the  tips  of  her  fingers. 

"  You  have  other  courtiers,"  said  one  of 
several  men  who  came  forward  to  join  us. 

She  held  out  her  hand,  and  as  she  did 
so  she  looked  at  me  for  a  second.  She 
withdrew  it  gracefully  and  added  with  a 
smile,  "  I  was  only  admitting  a  new  one," 
and  then  bade  me  follow  her.  She  intro 
duced  me  here  and  there  and  told  me  how 
many  times  I  must  dance  with  each.  We 
went  on  the  porch,  and  standing  there  I 
was  again  struck  with  the  resemblance  to 
the  lady  in  my  dream. 

"  You  are  like  the  first  part  of  my  pict 
ure,"  I  said  softly. 

90 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

'  Then  let  me  play  it  for  this  evening," 
she  said.  "  And  if  you  can  imagine  me  a 
Colonial  dame,  you  shall  be  a  courtier  from 
King  George's  court." 

"  Good,"  I  cried,  "  if  you  will  admit  that 
I  have  come  across  the  seas  a- wooing." 

"  As  you  will,  my  Lord,"  spreading  out 
her  gown  and  courtesying.  "  But  I  will 
riot  be  responsible  for  the  consequences;  so 
see  to  it  that  you  play  well  your  part,  else 
I  will  send  you  to  your  king  again." 

After  that  I  addressed  her  only  as 
"  Most  gracious  lady  "  or  "  Fair  Mistress 
Ellen."  I  wooed  her  in  the  strange  and 
quaint  language  of  a  hundred  years  ago. 
Sometimes  she  seemed  startled  at  my  ear 
nestness,  and  when  thinking  my  speech  too 
fervent  she  would  bid  me  go  hence  and  add 
another  wallflower  to  my  already  large 
bouquet.  I  would  straightway  return  and 
tell  her  of  the  court  life,  and  wove  amid 

91 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

my  imagery  an  odd  mixture  of  my  New 
England  home.  Once,  taking  her  hand  for 
a  moment  and  looking  into  her  eyes,  I 
said, — 

"  Ah  Ellen,  I  love  you  well  and  I  would 
take  you  to  a  court  in  truth  where  you 
would  find  a  royal  welcome,  and  you  would 
be  a  queen  to  everyone  who  knew  you,  and 
I  would  so  guard  you  that  neither  poverty 
nor  sorrow  should  ever  come  near  you  or 
to  those  you  love." 

"  I  have  nought  to  do  with  courts,  my 
Lord,"  she  said  with  a  certain  pathos,  and 
I  knew  she  was  thinking  of  her  duty  at  the 
Pines.  "  So  go  back  to  your  king,  and, 
whether  he  be  ambition  or  gold  or  both, 
forget  the  simple  Colonial  dame  who  more 
often  plays  the  part  of  dairy  maid.  And 
now,"  she  said,  looking  into  my  eyes  and 
laughing,  "  go  and  seek  out  every  maid 
over  twenty-nine,  and  when  you  have  led 

92 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

them  through  the  graceful  minuet  come 
back  to  me." 

And  I  would  do  as  bid  and  dance  some 

old-time  waltz  with  some  lonely  maid,  and 
then  return  to  Miss  Ellen's  side  only  to 
be  sent  away  again  to  someone  who  she 
noticed  was  not  dancing.  Finally  the  sup 
per  hour  was  announced  and  I  was  made 
happy  by  Miss  Ellen,  who  chose  me  as  her 
partner  for  the  march.  Just  as  we  were 
forming  into  line  someone  cried,— 

"  It  is  the  hour  for  the  wishing-stone," 
and  then  one  and  all,  save  myself,  for  I 
did  not  know  what  was  meant  by  the  wish- 
ing-stone,  joined  in  the  clamor.  Miss 
Ellen  yielded  at  length,  and,  still  holding 
my  hand  and  bidding  me  give  the  other 
to  the  girl  behind  me,  and  so  on  down  the 
line,  we  started  out  of  the  house  through 
one  of  the  deep,  low-cut  windows.  We  cir 
cled  the  porch,  crossed  the  gardens,  and 

93 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

passed  down  the  terrace.  The  moonlight 
filtering  through  the  trees  glimmered 
brightly  on  the  colored  frocks  as  we  sped 
down  the  cedar  lane.  At  length  we 
emerged  on  an  open  knoll  in  the  centre 
of  which  was  an  old  stone  sundial  cov 
ered  with  ivy.  We  formed  a  circle  round 
it,  and  Miss  Ellen,  letting  go  my  hand, 
stood  on  a  step  by  its  side,  and  calling  one 
after  another  by  name  bade  each  lay  his 
or  her  hand  on  the  bare  surface  of  the 
stone,  where  the  ivy  had  been  cut  away,  and 
to  make  a  wish.  One  looking  on  might 
have  thought  we  were  a  band  of  secret  plot 
ters  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance  on  a  tomb. 
It  was  no  jesting  matter,  I  could  see,  for 
each  one  in  that  gay  party  approached  the 
stone  in  silence  and  reverence.  The  only 
sound  that  broke  the  stillness  was  that  of 
Miss  Ellen's  voice  as  she  called  each  name 
in  turn.  At  last  my  name  was  called,  a 

94 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

little  more  gently  than  the  others,  I 
thought,  and  Miss  Ellen,  seeing  me  ap 
proach,  held  up  her  hand  and  motioned  me 
to  stop. 

"  And  now,  Mr.  Palmer,"  I  heard  her 
saying,  "  as  a  stranger  to  the  wishing-stone 
it  behooves  you  to  approach  it  reverently. 
There  is  no  reason  to  tell  the  others  this, 
for  they  know  the  legend  and  its  secret 
charms;  but  to  you  who  know  it  not  and 
who  come  as  a  stranger  to  it,  tempt  not  its 
anger  by  deriding  it,  even  in  your  thoughts, 
or  its  indifference  by  wishing  for  what  is 
impossible.  It  was  at  this  stone  that  my 
great-great-grandfather  wished  for  his 
bride,  and  in  less  than  a  fortnight  they 
were  wed.  He  enjoined  his  sons  to  seek 
this  spot  before  wooing  the  women  of  their 
choice,  and  it  is  a  strange  fatality  that  all 
of  our  family  who  have  not  done  so  have 
gone  to  their  graves  unloved  old  bache- 

95 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

lors  and  the  women  who  have  derided  it  as 
old  maids.  Of  later  years  it  has  become  the 
custom  for  the  love-sick  youths  and  maid 
ens  in  the  town  and  in  the  county  to  seek 
it  out  and  to  test  its  charms,  and  many  a 
happy  home  owes  more  than  we  may  im 
agine  to  the  legend  which  clings  about  this 
ivy-covered  dial.  The  moment  has  arrived 
when  you  can  test  its  power  too." 

Already  I  had  become  a  firm  believer 
in  the  wishing-stone.  Laying  my  hand  on 
it  and  looking  into  the  lovely  eyes  of  Ellen, 
I  made  my  wish  and  added  a  prayer  that  it 
might  find  favor  with  the  fates.  After  I 
had  finished  we  joined  hands  again  and 
made  three  circles  around  the  stone.  Then 
all  began  to  laugh,  and  someone  started  up 
the  rollicking  chorus  of, — 

"  'Tis  love,  'tis  love, 

"  'Tis  love  that  makes  the  world  go  round." 
96 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

All  joined  in  save  Miss  Ellen  and  me, 
for  we  strolled  back  somewhat  slower  than 
the  others. 

'  What  did  you  wish?  "  I  asked,  but  she 
only  shook  her  head  and  said  she  could  not 
tell. 

"  I  wished  that  you—  I  got  no  fur 

ther,  for  she  gave  a  startled  cry  that 
checked  me  before  I  could  finish  the  sen 
tence. 

"Don't,  oh,  don't!"  she  said.  "You 
have  already  said  too  much.  I  ought  to 
have  told  you  not  to  tell  your  wish,  for  if 
you  do  the  fates  become  perverse  and  mock 
you.  If  you  even  hint  of  what  you  have 
asked  in  secret  something  will  happen  to 
mar  its  complete  fulfilment.  I  am  sorry 
you  spoke  about  it  at  all,"  and  I  thought 
her  face  grew  a  little  paler. 

I  dared  not  speak  again,  and  we  walked 
on  in  silence  and  joined  the  others  in  the 

97 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

old  oaken  dining-room.  Mr.  Lamb  asked 
the  blessing  and  the  girls  sat  down,  while 
the  men  waited  on  them  and  brought  them 
supper.  After  a  merry  hour  we  danced 
again,  and  the  incident  of  the  wishing-stone 
was  soon  forgotten  in  the  frolic  of  the  old 
Virginia  Reel.  Miss  Ellen  led  this  old- 
fashioned  dance  with  me,  and  many  a 
pretty  ankle  was  displayed  that  night  as 
toes  were  pointed  and  courtesies  made,  and 
many  a  little  love-scene  too  went  on  that 
night,  but  I  was  too  busy  with  my  own  af 
fairs  to  watch  what  others  did.  When  the 
candles  had  burnt  down  to  their  sockets  and 
Mr.  Lamb  said  the  band  had  struck,  then 
began  the  good-nights,  which  lasted  for 
another  half  an  hour.  The  wagons  were 
brought  round  and  the  horses  saddled,  and 
soon  the  whole  gay  company  started  like  a 
cavalcade.  Long  after  they  had  left  we 
could  hear  them  singing  through  the  pines. 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

Bud  saddled  his  horse  and  rode  out  into 
the  night,  to  think  of  some  young  girl,  I 
thought,  but  Miss  Ellen  said  no,  that  some 
times  when  he  became  restless  he  would 
ride  for  hours  and  return  always  with  a 
brighter  heart  and  more  cheerfully  take  up 
the  burden  of  his  life  again.  When  I  bade 
Miss  Ellen  good-night  on  the  landing  I 
held  the  tips  of  her  fingers  for  a  moment. 

*  You  are  my  queen  to-night,"  I  cried 
earnestly. 

She  let  me  raise  her  fingers  to  my  lips 
and  looked  down  at  me  in  a  sad,  sweet  way. 
Then,  laughing  softly,  and  somehow,  I  felt, 
a  little  bitterly,  she  said,— 

"  Your  queen  of  to-night  will  be  your 
cook  again  to-morrow." 

Before  I  could  reach  her  side,  for  my 
impulse  was  to  throw  myself  at  her  feet  and 
pour  out  my  love  to  her,  she  glided  swiftly 
up  the  stairs. 

99 


VI. 

WITHIN  the  next  week  I  received  a  copy 
of  the  paper  with  my  letter  in  it,  promi 
nently  placed  on  the  first  page,  and  a  note 
in  the  same  mail  from  the  Editor  congratu 
lating  me  on  the  excellence  of  it.  He  told 
me  to  send  one  or  two  more  from  Georgia 
and  then  to  push  on  and  write  up  the  bayou 
counties  in  Louisiana.  He  liked  the  dia 
logues  and  suggested  that  I  give  more  in 
terviews  with  the  farmers.  I  read  my  let 
ter  in  print,  and  it  again  struck  me  that  I 
had  not  made  it  clear  to  my  conservative 
readers  that  it  was  to  the  sons  of  the  ane- 
bellum,  slave-holding  families  that  the 
South  had  to  look  for  its  regeneration  and 
renewed  prosperity;  that  it  was  this  ele 
ment  which  was  rebuilding  the  fortunes  in 
that  section,  and  not  the  few  men  from  the 
North  who  had  gone  there  to  invest  money. 
100 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

If  I  dared  to  draw  a  picture  of  the  Buds 
and  the  Ellens  of  the  South,  how  the  peo 
ple  of  the  old  Commonwealth  would  read 
the  future  of  this  sunny  land  and  appre 
ciate  the  struggle  of  its  younger  generation 
to  overcome  the  obstacles  which  they  had 
inherited  in  consequence  of  war. 

A  fine  sense  of  honor  had  kept  me  from 
making  use  of  the  life  at  the  Pines  as  a 
basis  for  a  letter,  but  I  longed  to  handle 
the  subject  as  I  saw  it  and  to  make  others 
see  it  through  my  eyes  and  appreciate  its 
beauty.  Shut  in  my  room  away  from  the 
influence  of  Miss  Ellen,  of  Bud,  and  even 
of  the  Colonel,  I  argued  that  such  a  letter 
could  do  no  harm  and  might  induce  much 
good.  I  do  not  hide  from  myself  even  now 
that  there  was  with  me  a  certain  satisfac 
tion  in  pleasing  those  in  the  home  office, 
nor  did  I  conceal  from  myself  then  the  ad 
ditional  prestige  such  a  letter  might  give 
101 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

me  with  my  critics.  The  Editor  had  com 
plimented  me  on  the  first  letter ;  what  would 
he  not  do  when  he  received  one  written  with 
a  pen  guided  by  love  and  every  word  of  it 
poured  from  the  heart?  If  Miss  Ellen 
loved  me,  I  argued,  she  would  only  rejoice 
with  me  over  my  success — and  then  too  she 
might  not  see  it.  This  last  thought  brought 
a  blush  to  my  cheek  and  I  started  up,  de 
termined  to  show  her  my  letter  and  tell  her 
what  I  contemplated  doing. 

What  evil  genius  led  me  to  change  my 
mind  I  do  not  know;  it  might  have  been 
the  Fates  of  the  wishing-stone  whom  I  had 
angered  by  partially  revealing  the  secret 
I  had  confided  to  them.  But  at  the  time  I 
was  pleased  to  think  it  was  a  confidence 
I  had  no  right  to  give  her  until  I  had  told 
her  of  my  love.  Then  too  if  I,  who  was  as 
jealous  of  the  family  honor  as  Bud  or  even 
the  Colonel  himself,  saw  no  impropriety  in 
102 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

making  use  of  their  heroic  struggle  with 
misfortunes,  surely  there  could  be  none,  I 
thought.  When  I  should  have  told  her  of 
my  love,  together  we  would  talk  over  these 
hard  times  and  together  we  would  read  my 
description  of  them  and  laugh  over  it,  or 
possibly  cry,  for  it  was  always  the  pathos 
of  the  life  at  the  Pines  which  I  saw  and 
not  the  humor.  When  a  woman  loves  she 
always  understands,  I  said  to  myself,  but 
I  did  not  know  then  how  sensitive  these 
old  families  had  become  of  criticism,  nor 
how  deeply  they  felt  their  changed  condi 
tions.  I  had  only  seen  their  fortitude  and 
bravery,  for  they  would  have  thought  it 
beneath  them  to  complain  of  their  poverty 
to  others. 

Unless  I  wrote  some  such  letter,  which 
would  afford  me  a  reasonable  excuse  for  re 
maining  another  fortnight  at  the  Pines,  I 
would  have  to  leave  in  a  day  or  two  at  the 

103 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

longest,  for  the  suggestion  of  the  Manag 
ing  Editor  was  nothing  less  than  a  politely 
worded  order.  Cajoling  myself  into  this 
belief,  I  hesitated  no  longer.  My  mind 
once  made  up,  I  was  seized  with  a  fever 
to  write  such  as  I  had  not  known  since  the 
first  days  of  my  career  in  journalism.  Tak 
ing  out  my  writing-pad  and  throwing  my 
self  across  the  bed,  I  wrote  with  an  enthu 
siasm  I  had  seldom  experienced.  If  one 
has  not  felt  this  feverish  desire  to  write, 
he  or  she  cannot  appreciate  the  feelings 
which  prompted  me  to  hold  up  every  de 
tail  as  I  saw  it  and  to  lend  it  color  where 
color  might  be  lacking.  Loving  Miss  Ellen 
with  a  passion  that  absorbed  me  then,  I 
described  her  as  a  holy  priest  might  paint 
the  Madonna  whom  he  worshipped,  and 
with  the  accuracy  with  which  an  artist 
might  put  upon  the  canvas  the  features  of 
his  wife  and  children.  My  blood  ran 

104 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

rapidly  through  my  veins  as  I  sketched 
Miss  Ellen  in  bold  relief  and  as  faithfully 
described  her  honest  father  and  manly 
brother.  The  names  and  the  locality  were 
concealed,  but  not  more  effectually  than 
the  artist  might  hide  the  name  of  the 
mother  model  who  sat  for  the  Madonna. 
One  who  had  known  the  artist  and  his 
model  would  see  in  the  wrap  of  the  Ma 
donna  a  shawl  the  wife  had  worn  for  a  score 
of  years  in  the  humble  neighborhood,  and 
in  the  infant  Christ  the  idealized  features 
of  the  model's  child.  When  describing 
Miss  Ellen  and  her  family  I  felt  inspired 
and  uplifted,  and  left  nothing  out  which  I 
thought  would  enhance  the  letter  as  a  pict 
ure.  When  I  had  finished  it  I  read  it  over 
carefully,  altering  not  a  line,  even  adding 
here  and  there  a  sentence  which  would  lend 
one  more  bit  of  color  to  the  whole. 

With  this  letter  I  sent  a  note  to  the 

105 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

Editor  telling  him  that  I  would  remain  in 
the  vicinity  of  Oglethorpe  another  fort 
night  unless  he  wrote  me  to  the  contrary. 
I  said  there  was  much  more  material  about 
Oglethorpe  which  I  thought  could  be  used 
to  advantage.  So  highly  did  I  think  of 
what  I  had  written  that  I  felt  reasonably 
certain  he  would  make  no  objections  to  my 
plans,  and  in  another  two  weeks  I  hoped  to 
have  secured  Miss  Ellen's  consent  to  be 
come  my  wife. 

She  seemed  to  know  by  intuition  what 
was  in  my  heart  and  what  I  had  a  mind  to 
do,  for  she  avoided  being  alone  with  me, 
and  whenever  we  would  walk  after  that 
she  would  ask  Bud  to  go  with  us.  There 
was  a  gentle  dignity  about  her  during  these 
last  few  days  which  kept  me  at  a  distance, 
and  if  I  paid  her  a  compliment  she  would 
show  annoyance,  and  when  our  conversa 
tion  would  become  personal  in  its  nature 

106 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

she  would  remember  that  she  had  left  some 
thing  unattended  to  or  would  find  some  ex 
cuse  to  leave  me  with  a  half-finished  sen 
tence  on  my  lips.  I  soon  saw  that  she  did 
not  want  me  to  speak  to  her  of  love,  though 
she  could  not  prevent  me  telling  her  of  it 
with  my  eyes  and  by  the  silent  way  I  would 
watch  her  when  she  would  work.  Squire 
Hawkins  came  again  one  evening,  but  she 
did  not  walk  with  him,  and  once  when  Bud 
got  up  to  leave  I  saw  her  lay  her  hand  ever 
so  gently  on  his  sleeve,  which  was  suffi 
cient  to  have  kept  him  in  his  seat  all  night 
had  she  wished  it. 

One  morning  she  received  a  letter  at  the 
breakfast  table,  and  after  opening  it  and 
glancing  at  the  signature  she  slipped  it  in 
her  belt,  and  when  breakfast  was  over  she 
went  quietly  out  of  the  room  and  I  did  not 
see  her  again  that  day.  For  several  days, 
in  fact,  she  avoided  me  altogether,  and  I 

107 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

became  wretched  in  the  thought  that  I  had 
been  mistaken,  after  all;  that  she  cared 
nothing  more  for  me  than  she  did  for  any 
one  else,  even  Squire  Hawkins.  In  fact, 
I  was  not  so  sure  about  the  Squire.  I 
heard  that  he  was  the  richest  planter  in  the 
county  and  had  the  proud  distinction  of 
owning  the  only  plantation  which  was  not 
encumbered  with  a  mortgage.  He  was  an 
old  friend  of  the  family  and  Bud  liked  him, 
and  Miss  Ellen  herself  did  not  seem  to 
have  anything  against  him.  I  might  be  a 
pauper  for  all  she  knew,  and  so  I  told  my 
self,  but  on  thinking  it  over  in  my  room 
at  night  I  became  convinced  that  Miss 
Ellen  would  never  marry  save  where  she 
loved,  and  that  she  did  not  love  the  Squire 
I  could  have  sworn. 

As  the  days  slipped  by  she  became  more 
like  her   former  self,  and  one  afternoon 

108 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

when  it  was  raining  she  consented  to  play 
a  game  of  billiards  with  me.  Suddenly  she 
stopped,  and  as  I  watched  her  I  thought  her 
face  perceptibly  paled.  A  moment  later 
there  was  the  sound  of  horses'  hoofs  on  the 
gravel  and  we  heard  someone  alight. 

"  Come,  Mr.  Palmer,  I  am  beating  you," 
she  said  with  an  attempt  at  gayety  which 
was  but  poorly  assumed.  "  It  is  your  shot 
and  you  stand  there  dreaming." 

Just  then  Pickaninny  Sam  came  in  to 
tell  Miss  Ellen  that  the  Squire  was  in  the 
parlor.  She  seemed  irresolute  for  a  mo 
ment,  and  then  her  face  became  hard  as  I 
had  never  seen  it  before.  She  laid  down 
her  cue  and  started  to  leave  the  room  with 
out  a  word.  The  blood  flew  to  my  face 
and  hot  words  to  my  tongue,  but,  restrain 
ing  myself  as  best  I  could,  I  cried,— 

"  Miss  Ellen,  if  that  man  has  dared  to 

109 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

force  his  attentions  on  you  or  to  annoy 
you " 

She  bade  me  hush.  "  Squire  Hawkins 
is  all  that  is  good  and  kind,"  she  said.  "  His 
only  wish  is  to  serve  me  and  my  family. 
You  must  say  nothing  against  him  in  my 
presence,  Mr.  Palmer." 

'  That  man  wants  to  force  you  into  mar 
rying  him,  Miss  Ellen.  'Tis  outrageous!  " 
I  cried,  beside  myself  with  anger.  "  He  is 
old  enough  to  be  your  father." 

She  smiled  sadly  and  said,  "  Almost  old 
enough  to  be  my  grandfather." 

"  Surely  any  fate  is  better  than  that. 
Such  a  sacrifice  would  be  shameful.  If 
you  must  sacrifice  yourself  at  all,  let 
me " 

She  put  a  stop  to  my  passionate  words, 
and  before  the  mute  appeal  in  her  eyes  I 
stood  silent. 

"  I  am  going,  Mr.  Palmer,  and  I  must 
no 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

ask  you  not  to  speak  what  may  be  in  your 
mind.  I  have  a  question  to  solve  which 
no  one  in  the  world  can  help  me  to  answer, 
and  if  I  could  not  solve  it  without  assist 
ance  I  would  be  unworthy  the  regard  or 
friendship  of  any  man.  No,"  she  added, 
for  I  had  opened  my  lips  to  speak  again 
the  words  of  love  that  rose  to  them,  "  if 
you  value  my  good  opinion,  be  silent." 

"Miss  Ellen,"  I  half  whispered,  "do 
you  know  how  it  will  end?  " 

"  I  do  not,  Mr.  Palmer,"  and  she  left  me 
a  prey  to  doubts  that  seemed  to  tear  my 
soul  asunder.  When  a  woman  hesitates  I 
thought  it  always  means  yes,  and  had  she 
not  told  me  herself  that  she  did  not  know 
how  it  would  end.  I  spent  the  remainder 
of  the  afternoon  in  my  room  in  an  agony 
of  despair,  and  in  the  loneliness  of  that 
great,  half-emptied  chamber  I  cried  to  God 
to  prevent  such  a  sacrilege.  The  next  day 
111 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

and  even  the  next  one  after  that  I  never 
saw  her  alone  for  a  moment.  Once  I  asked 
her  to  let  me  speak  to  her,  if  only  for  a 
minute. 

"  Not  yet,"  she  said.  "  I  am  not  worthy 
of  your  kindly  thoughts.  I  wish  you  could 
forget  me." 


112 


VII. 

EATERY  day  now  I  was  expecting  a  let 
ter  from  my  paper  ordering  me  to  leave 
Oglethorpe.  Each  morning  I  rode  to  the 
post-office  as  if  to  meet  my  fate  half  way. 
I  was  in  an  agony  of  suspense.  I  resolved 
that  if  my  orders  came  before  I  had  reached 
some  understanding  with  Miss  Ellen  to  re 
sign  my  post  and  remain  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  Pines  until  I  had  either  won  her  for 
my  wife  or  else  forced  her  to  declare  her 
self  engaged  to  Squire  Hawkins.  I  never 
believed  that  she  seriously  considered  such 
a  step  until  she  had  told  me  to  forget  her. 
Even  then  I  would  not  despair,  but  I  was 
resolved  that  if  she  thought  me  poor  she 
should  continue  to  think  me  such  until  she 
had  become  my  affianced  bride.  I  fully  be 
lieved  her  capable  of  marrying  the  Squire 
for  the  sake  of  lifting  the  mortgage  and 

113 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

freeing  Bud  from  the  drudgery  that  was 
telling  on  his  health  and,  what  was  worse, 
breaking  his  spirit.  For  herself  she  did 
not  think.  It  was  for  the  others.  It  had 
always  been  for  the  others.  I  had  reason 
to  think  that  in  the  matter  of  worldly  goods 
I  was  the  equal  of  the  Squire,  but  had  I 
told  her  of  this  I  verily  believe  that  it  would 
have  militated  against  me,  for  she  would 
not  sell  herself  to  the  man  she  loved,  while 
she  might  sacrifice  herself  to  one  whom  she 
regarded  almost  as  an  aged  relative.  I  re 
solved  to  stand  my  ground  and  fight  every 
inch  of  it  with  Squire  Hawkins,  and  I  was 
equally  determined  to  tell  my  love  at  the 
earliest  moment,  so  that  there  could  be  no 
mistake  as  to  my  intentions. 

The  opportunity  came  sooner  than  I 
thought,  for  the  next  day  being  damp  and 
chilly  we  remained  indoors,  Bud  alone  be 
ing  forced  to  face  the  rain.  Mrs.  Turpin 

114 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

had  gone  into  the  kitchen  to  get  warm,  she 
said,  for  the  sitting-room  was  damp  and 
bad  for  rheumatism.  I  was  only  waiting 
for  the  Colonel  to  go  for  his  afternoon  nap 
to  speak  what  was  in  my  mind  to  Miss 
Ellen.  Presently  she  looked  up  from  a 
book  she  was  reading  and  said,— 

"  Father,  there  was  another  of  those  let 
ters  copied  in  the  Augusta  papers  yester 
day." 

As  I  heard  her  words  my  heart  seemed 
to  cease  pulsation.  I  had  never  known  that 
they  had  seen  these  letters,  for  they  had 
not  spoken  of  them  before,  probably  be 
cause  they  did  not  want  me  to  see  them. 
My  face  grew  scarlet  and  I  was  thankful 
that  the  room  was  gloomy  and  dark. 

"  Yes,  Ellen,"  he  said,  "  even  some  of 
our  own  people  laugh  at  us  when  they  get 
rich,  so  we  can't  expect  our  enemies  to  do 
less.  Have  you  got  the  paper,  my  dear? 

115 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

I  had  to  laugh  over  that  last  description  of 
what  we  had  come  to.  It  was  very,  very 
funny." 

"  Funny!  Oh,  father,  to  think  that  you 
can  see  anything  funny  in  such  misery  as 
he  depicted !  The  writer  does  not  see  with 
the  eyes  of  a  gentleman  or  else  he  is  blinded 
by  prejudice  or  prosperity.  How  I  should 
loathe  to  be  such  a  man.  I  did  not  want 
you  to  see  this  last  letter,  father,  so  I  burnt 
the  paper.  It  was  too  true,  too  true,"  she 
cried,  and  I  saw  her  eyes  fill  with  tears. 

She  laid  her  book  aside  and  went  to  the 
window  to  mend  a  rent  in  the  lace  curtain, 
but  I  thought  more  to  hide  her  feelings 
from  us.  '  The  writer  does  not  see  with 
the  eyes  of  a  gentleman."  With  that  one 
sentence  she  had  shattered  to  pieces  every 
argument  I  had  used  to  myself  that  day 
in  the  room.  She  had  not  made  use  of 
any  choice  rhetoric,  such  as  I  had  used  to 

116 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

describe  her,  nor  did  she  study  the  effect 
of  her  phrasing,  but  with  one  natural  sen 
tence,  spoken  from  the  heart,  she  seemed 
to  paint  me  as  I  was  or  as  she  would  al 
ways  think  of  me  after  this.  I  realized 
how  far  my  ambition  had  carried  me  and 
how  low  my  literary  instincts,  as  I  had 
thought  them  then,  had  sunk  me.  In  the 
reaction  I  saw  myself  as  others  would  see 
me,  and  in  my  remorse  I  believed  that  I 
had  sacrificed  her  for  some  temporary  ad 
vantage  in  my  profession.  And  I  had  fan 
cied  that  she  would  understand,  forgetting 
that  her  scale  of  honor  and  truth  was  as 
far  above  mine  as  heaven  is  above  earth. 
In  the  silence  that  followed  I  suffered  a 
life-time  of  ordinary  humiliation.  To  be 
unknown  and  yet  denounced  was  like  being 
alone  with  truth.  My  identity  should  be 
hid  no  longer,  and  I  resolved  to  tell  her 
that  it  was  I  she  had  denounced.  As  low 

117 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

as  I  seemed  at  that  moment,  I  was  not  so 
low  as  to  take  her  hand  until  I  had  con 
fessed  all.  The  past  month  rose  before  me, 
and  I  asked  myself  if  I  was  indeed  a  gentle 
man  measured  from  their  stand-point.  At 
any  rate,  I  could  not  remain  one  and  be 
silent. 

The  Colonel  crossed  the  room  and  passed 
out  into  the  hall.  I  got  up  and  stood  lean 
ing  on  the  back  of  the  chair  in  which  I  had 
been  sitting. 

"Miss  Ellen,"  I  said,  "I  have  some 
thing  important  to  say  to  you.  It  is  not 
what  you  think,"  for  a  pained  expression 
came  into  her  face;  "it  is  a  confession  I 
have  to  make." 

"Yes,  Mr.  Palmer,"  she  said,  and 
turned  from  the  window  to  face  me.  The 
sun  had  come  from  behind  a  bank  of  clouds 
and  crimsoned  the  checkered  panes  of  glass, 
and  her  hair,  catching  the  rays  that  filtered 

118 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

through  them,  framed  her  in  a  halo  and 
to  me  gave  her  the  appearance  of  a  saint. 
Her  face  was  pale  and  her  long  eyelashes 
were  fringed  with  tears. 

"  Miss  Ellen,"  I  said  softly,  "  it  was  I 
who  wrote  those  letters." 

For  a  moment  she  did  not  speak,  and 
when  she  did  her  voice  seemed  passion 
less. 

"  Then  it  was  you,  after  all,"  was  what 
she  said.  "  I  had  refused  to  entertain  the 
thought  even  until  you  yourself  confessed 
it.  Even  now  it  seems  too  horrible  to  be 
lieve.  And  I  stopped  speaking  to  my  best 
friend  merely  because  she  half-playfully 
suggested  that  it  might  be  you."  She  said 
this  more  to  herself  than  to  me. 

"  Why  did  you  not  tell  this  to  me  be 
fore,"  I  said,  "  and  I  would  have  ex 
plained?  " 

"Why  did  I  not  tell  you?"  she  asked, 

119 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

her  voice  breaking  with  anguish.  "  Be 
cause  I  thought  you  were  a  gentleman  and 
you  were  our  guest.  It  would  have  been 
an  insult  to  have  mentioned  it.  Such  a 
suggestion  would  have  been  a  reflection  on 
him  you  ridiculed  and  on  me,  whom  you 
would  have  made  believe  you  loved  had 
you  dared  to  speak  the  lie  upon  your  lips." 

"  Love  you,"  I  cried,  "  I  would  die  for 
you!" 

"  It  is  the  only  way  you  could  ever  prove 
it  now,"  she  said.  "  Oh,"  she  continued, 
"  if  you  had  only  levelled  your  ridicule  at 
me  alone.  But  father,  poor  old  father.  I 
am  glad  he  will  not  see  that  last  letter;  he 
would  hardly  think  that  one  funny." 

She  looked  at  me,  and  her  eyes  suddenly 
seemed  to  blaze  with  scorn  and  contempt. 

"  Yes,  I  see  it  all  now,  and  the  wonder 
is  I  did  not  see  it  before.  It  was  he  whom 
120 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

you  described  as  a  broken-down  aristocrat, 
who  descanted  on  politics  and  wrote  pieces 
to  the  paper  telling  the  President  how  to 
run  the  government.  It  was  mother  who 
dressed  in  worn-out  velvet  gowns  and  sat 
in  state  at  the  dinner  her  daughter  had 
cooked,  and  it  was  I  who  cooked  the  din 
ner  and  played  sonatas  and  nocturnes  for 
the  amusement  of  our  guests.  God,  why 
did  I  not  see  you  as  you  were?  Yes,  and 
these  are  the  hands,"  she  cried  in  anguish 
and  scorn,  holding  them  towards  me  that  I 
might  see  them,  "  that  have  cooked  your 
meals  for  the  past  four  weeks,  and  these 
are  the  same  hands  that  played  for  you 
while  you  smoked  your  pipe  and  heard  fa 
ther  descant  on  politics.  How  poor  and 
miserable  we  must  have  seemed  to  you. 
All  that  I  could  have  forgiven,  but  you 
dared  to  soil  my  hand  with  your  kisses. 
121 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

They  will  burn  deep  here,"  she  said,  point 
ing  to  her  fingers,  "  long  after  your  in 
gratitude  has  been  forgotten." 

"Ellen,  for  God's  sake  have  pity!"  I 
cried.  "  I  have  laughed  at  your  poverty 
as  if  it  were  my  own.  I  am  rich, — I  never 
told  this  to  you  before, — and  I  felt  that  the 
only  use  of  my  wealth  in  the  future  would 
be  to  relieve  the  burdens  of  those  you  love. 
This  night — nay,  this  very  afternoon — I 
was  going  to  ask  you  to  be  my  wife,  from 
which  moment  your  father,  mother,  and 
brother  would  have  been  mine  also.  It  was 
this  very  poverty  and  the  fortitude  with 
which  you  bore  it  that  has  made  me  love 
you.  After  you  spoke  this  afternoon  I 
could  not  tell  you  of  my  love  until  I  had 
confessed  first  that  I  was  the  author  of  the 
letters  which  wounded  you  so  deeply." 

"  I  am  glad  you  spared  me  that  last  hu- 

122 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

miliation.  I  can  never  forgive  myself  for 
being  happy  in  your  company  nor  for 
spurning  the  hand  stretched  out  to  lift  us 
from  this  degradation." 

"  Squire  Hawkins,"  I  said  in  bitterness. 

*  Yes,  Squire  Hawkins,  whom  you  would 
have  insulted  as  you  have  us.  And  to  think 
that  just  because  I  had  listened  to  him  I 
believed  myself  unworthy  of  your  love. 
You  must  excuse  me  now,"  she  added  in 
cutting  tones,  "  for  I  must  go  to  prepare 
your  dinner.  I  suppose  there  will  be  one 
less  to  provide  for  to-morrow? " 

She  started  to  leave  the  room,  but  I 
stood  in  front  of  her. 

"  No,  I  will  not  go.  You  do  not  under 
stand.  It  was  with  love  welling  in  my  heart 
that  I  wrote  that  last  letter.  I  had  been 
ordered  home,  and  I  wrote  that  letter  that 
I  might  stay  another  fortnight.  After  you 

123 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

had  promised  to  be  my  wife  I  would  have 
told  you  all  and  together  we  would  have 
read  it,  and  in  the  richness  of  the  future  we 
would  have  laughed  over  it  together.  No, 
I  will  not  go.  I  will  stay  and  tell  Bud 
and  the  Colonel.  They  will  understand 
and  plead  for  me.  And  if  you  love 
me " 

"  If  I  ever  did,  you  killed  it  the  moment 
you  confessed  to  have  written  so  about  one 
you  professed  to  love,  one  whom  you  should 
have  protected  and  have  helped  to  hide 
from  the  world  that  which  she  feels  so  de 
grades  her.  Instead  of  which  you  hold  it 
up  to  publicity  and  to  the  scorn  of  the 
world.  You  cannot  stay  here  longer. 
Don't  force  me  to  tell  father  or  my  brother ; 
that  would  be  more  than  I  could  bear." 

She  put  her  hand  towards  a  chair  as  if 
to  keep  her  from  falling.  I  came  a  step 

124 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

nearer,  but  she  drew  back,  involuntarily 
steadying  herself,  and  looking  me  in  the 
face  and  with  a  voice  vibrating  with  emo 
tion  said: 

"  Don't  touch  me.  I  never  want  to  see 
you  nor  to  hear  of  you  again." 

She  swept  past  me,  and  I  sank  into  a 
chair,  overcome  with  grief  and  mortifica 
tion.  How  long  I  sat  there  I  do  not  know. 
Every  time  I  heard  a  footfall  I  would  start 
up  expecting  to  see  her  come  back,  thinking 
in  my  foolish  heart  that  she  had  relented. 
Bud  came  in  and  found  me  sitting  in  the 
dark.  He  told  me  dinner  was  ready,  and 
we  entered  the  dining-room  together.  Miss 
Ellen  came  in  late,  for  it  would  have  been 
unlike  her  to  have  stayed  away.  In  a  per 
fectly  natural  voice  she  told  them  I  had 
been  called  away.  Bud  begged  me  to  stay, 
and  the  Colonel  and  Mrs.  Turpin  made  me 
promise  to  come  again.  That  night  was  a 

125 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

dismal  one.  Miss  Ellen  would  not  play 
and  soon  went  to  her  room.  I  left  the  next 
morning,  Bud  remaining  from  his  work  to 
drive  me  to  the  station.  Miss  Ellen  bade 
me  farewell  in  the  hall,  but  avoided  taking 
my  hand.  As  the  wagon  turned  into  the 
cedars  I  looked  back,  and  only  the  Colonel 
and  Mrs.  Turpin  were  standing  on  the 
porch  to  wave  me  a  farewell.  I  hardly 
spoke  to  Bud  on  the  way,  but  I  made  him 
promise  that  if  anyone  should  get  ill  at  the 
Pines  he  would  write  to  me  at  once.  At 
the  station  I  found  a  letter  from  the  Man 
aging  Editor  telling  me  that  my  last  con 
tribution  was  the  cleverest  bit  of  writing 
I  had  ever  done  and  that  the  paper  had  ad 
vertised  another  one  for  the  following  Sun 
day. 

I  tore  his  letter  into  fragments,  and  go 
ing  to  the  telegraph  office  wrote  out  the 
following  telegram  and  sent  it: 

126 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

"  Accept  my  resignation.    I  will  leave  for  the 
West  tonight  on  personal  business." 

I  grasped  Bud's  hand,  but  was  unable 
to  speak  a  word.  I  boarded  the  train  and 
sat  for  hours,  my  head  resting  on  my  hands, 
with  my  face  turned  towards  the  Pines,  my 
soul  full  of  sadness,  with  not  a  ray  of  sun 
light  in  my  heart. 


127 


VIII. 

I  DID  not  go  West  immediately  after 
leaving  the  Pines,  as  I  had  intended  doing, 
but  remained  within  the  State,  hoping 
vainly  to  get  some  word  of  forgiveness 
from  Miss  Ellen.  In  my  calmer  moments 
I  reviewed  my  visit  to  the  Turpins,  and 
the  letter  which  she  so  condemned  seemed 
to  me  to  be  my  least  offence.  Though  I 
understood  her  resentment  and  appreciated 
the  position  she  had  taken,  I  felt,  however, 
that  I  had  made  a  mistake  in  obeying  her, 
and  now  wished  that  I  had  remained  at  the 
Pines  and  confessed  everything  to  Bud. 
I  believed  then,  as  I  do  now,  that  he  would 
have  understood  me  better  than  Miss  Ellen 
had  done  and  would  have  pleaded  my  cause 
for  me,  though  I  doubt  whether  he  or  any 
one  else  at  that  time  could  have  shaken  her 

128 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

determination   not    to    admit    me    to    her 
friendship  again. 

I  would  wake  up  each  morning  resolved 
to  quit  the  State  that  day,  but  before  noon 
I  would  change  my  mind,  as  I  seemed  ut 
terly  incapable  of  tearing  myself  from  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Pines.  I  even  looked 
and  longed  for  some  change  of  feeling 
which  might  blunt  the  edge  of  my  grief, 
but  none  came,  and  my  love  seemed  to  grow 
stronger  each  succeeding  day.  It  was  mad 
dening  to  think  that  I  had  lost  her,  and 
what  gave  this  sorrow  a  keener  edge  was 
the  knowledge  that  I  had  forever  put  it 
out  of  my  power  to  be  of  any  service  to 
her  or  to  lend  assistance  to  those  she  loved. 
I  would  become  a  prey  at  times  to  the  keen 
est  pangs  of  jealousy.  I  had  no  doubt  that 
the  Squire  would  renew  his  suit,  and  I 
feared  that  she  might  be  led,  in  her  bitter 

129 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

resentment  towards  me,  to  accept  his  hand 
in  marriage.  I  wrote  her  several  letters 
begging  for  her  forgiveness,  and  if  she 
could  not  grant  me  that,  to  try  at  least  to 
understand  the  feelings  which  had 
prompted  me  to  write  the  letters  which  had 
been  the  means  of  separating  us.  I  told 
her  of  the  hopeless  state  of  mind  into  which 
I  had  fallen,  and  that  I  believed  that  my 
life  would  be  aimless  unless  she  would  touch 
the  magic  spring  which  would  set  my  blood 
aglow  once  more  and  arouse  the  dormant 
ambition  within  me  to  accomplish  some 
thing  in  the  world. 

I  wrote  on  and  on.  I  exhausted  my 
logic  and  mental  powers  to  make  her  un 
derstand.  I  reviewed  my  visit  to  the  Pines 
at  length,  from  the  moment  I  had  met 
Colonel  Turpin  to  the  last  interview  I  had 
had  with  her.  My  first  mistake,  I  told  her, 
had  been  in  letting  my  introduction  to 

130 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

her  and  her  mother,  as  a  relative  of  the 
Kentucky  Palmers,  go  unchallenged.  I 
explained  how  I  believed  myself  to  have 
been  merely  a  boarder,  and  the  almost 
fatal  mistake  I  had  made  in  speaking  to 
the  Colonel  on  the  subject.  Such  hospi 
tality  I  was  unaccustomed  to,  nor  do  I  now 
fully  understand  the  promptings  of  that 
kind  old  heart  when  he  invited  me  to  the 
Pines.  I  told  her  of  my  life  and  of  my 
work;  how  I  had  come  into  her  section 
with  the  bitterest  feelings  against  it.  My 
one  ambition,  I  told  her,  was  to  arouse  a 
hostile  sentiment  in  New  England  against 
the  political  party  then  in  power  in  nearly 
all  the  Southern  States.  I  did  not  conceal 
from  her  the  satisfaction  I  had  felt  when 
this  assignment  had  been  given  me,  nor 
my  disappointment  when  I  learned  after 
wards  that  I  was  not  to  touch  on  politics  in 
my  letters.  I  told  her  of  my  resolution  to 

131 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

leave  the  Pines  on  the  day  after  I  had  ar 
rived  there,  but  how  that  resolve  melted  as 
snow  before  the  sun  when  I  had  seen  her 
and  looked  into  her  eyes ;  how  step  by  step 
she  had  led  me  to  look  upon  life  with  a 
broader  and  a  kindlier  view  and  had 
brought  me  finally  to  a  full  understanding 
of  her  section  and  her  people,  and  how  she 
had  made  me  to  know  for  the  first  time 
what  my  father  meant  when  he  was  wont 
to  say  that  all  the  two  great  sections  of  the 
country  needed  was  to  get  acquainted. 

The  letter  which  had  so  offended  her, 
I  said,  would  be  the  means  of  bringing 
thousands  of  persons  to  a  proper  apprecia 
tion  of  her  homeland  and  the  Southern 
character,  just  as  the  facts  embodied  in  it 
had  caused  me  to  change  the  opinions  I 
had  held  once.  I  did  not  believe  my  of 
fence  was  past  forgiveness,  and  I  begged 
her  that  in  a  spirit  of  fairness  she  would  try 

132 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

to  appreciate  the  impulses  of  one  whose  in 
stincts  seemed  to  be  to  write  of  things  as 
they  are  and  whose  training  had  led  him 
always  to  seek  out  those  things  to  describe 
which  were  novel  and  of  interest.  I  fol 
lowed  this  letter  with  another,  but  with  no 
better  result.  I  wearied  the  postal  officials 
with  questions  and  got  them  to  go  through 
the  general  delivery  a  half  dozen  times  a 
day. 

I  do  not  know  how  it  would  have  ended 
had  the  thought  not  come  to  me,  as  if  by 
inspiration,  that  I  could,  at  least,  be  of 
some  small  service  to  her,  yet  keep  my 
identity  in  the  background.  After  waiting 
in  Augusta  one  more  week  in  anxious  hope 
that  each  day  might  bring  a  letter  from  her, 
I  took  the  train  for  Atlanta,  and  there  be 
gan  a  search  for  the  holders  of  the  mort 
gage  on  the  Pines.  With  good  references 
I  presented  myself  at  the  office  of  one  of 

133 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

the  large  trust  companies  and  authorized 
its  agents  to  trace  the  mortgage  and  to  se 
cure  it  at  any  cost.  After  weeks  of  inces 
sant  work  we  traced  the  holders  somewhere 
in  the  southern  part  of  the  State,  and  an 
agent  of  the  company  was  dispatched  there 
to  take  up  the  mortgage.  The  utmost  cau 
tion  was  necessary  to  secure  the  consent  of 
Bud  without  exciting  his  suspicion.  The 
holders  of  the  paper  were  instructed  to  say 
that  they  had  to  sell  and  that  they  had 
found  a  company  whose  business  it  was  to 
lend  money  willing  to  accept  it.  Nothing 
was  said  about  reducing  the  interest.  It 
was  not  until  the  transfer  had  been  accom 
plished  that  it  was  made  known  to  Bud 
that  the  company  had  reduced  the  interest 
from  six  to  four  per  cent. 

I  had  followed  the  transaction  with  the 
keenest  interest,  and  the  officials  who  were  in 
my  confidence  became  as  interested  almost 

134 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

as  I.  I  told  them  that  under  no  circum 
stances  were  the  Turpins  to  know  anything 
about  me;  that  everything  must  be  done 
through  them.  They  understood  the  neces 
sity  of  secrecy,  as  I  told  them  that  the  bene 
ficiaries  of  this  act  would  reject  it  and  force 
a  foreclosure  had  they  any  reason  to  sus 
pect  that  the  interest  had  been  reduced 
through  any  desire  to  assist  them  in  any 
way.  Satisfied  that  I  had  done  something 
for  Miss  Ellen,  I  determined  to  leave  for 
the  West.  It  was  while  going  to  take  my 
train  that  a  circumstance  occurred  that  de 
layed  my  departure  for  several  days  more. 
I  was  late  and  was  hurrying  through  the 
depot  when  I  ran  fairly  in  the  arms  of  Bud. 
I  did  not  recognize  him  at  first,  and  it  was 
only  when  I  stepped  back  with  a  conven 
tional  apology  that  I  saw  the  strong  out 
lines  of  his  face  and  knew  it  to  be  that  of 
Miss  Ellen's  brother.  It  was  only  a  mo- 

135 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

mentary  glimpse  I  had  of  him,  but  he  looked 
older  and  more  careworn,  it  seemed  to  me. 
He  seemed  preoccupied  and  did  not  recog 
nize  me,  for,  lowering  my  face,  I  hurried 
past  him  and  reached  the  waiting-room.  I 
abandoned  all  intention  of  taking  the  train 
that  day,  for  I  at  once  suspected  that  my 
secret  had  become  known  and  that  Bud 
had  come  to  Atlanta  with  the  determination 
of  either  having  the  transfer  revoked  or  else 
forcing  me  to  accept  the  former  interest  on 
the  mortgage.  By  a  circuitous  route  I 
reached  my  hotel  and,  sending  for  a  mes 
senger,  dispatched  a  note  at  once  to  the 
company  informing  the  officials  of  the  ar 
rival  of  Mr.  Turpin. 

The  next  day  I  learned  that  Bud,  think 
ing  the  transaction  somewhat  queer,  had 
come  to  Atlanta  to  see  about  it  himself,  and 
I  strongly  believed  that  Miss  Ellen  had 
urged  him  to  it  to  satisfy  herself  that  I 

136 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

was  in  no  way  connected  with  the  benefit 
which  those  at  the  Pines  would  derive  from 
the  reduction  of  the  interest.  Bud  de 
manded  to  know  to  whom  his  family  was 
indebted  for  this  unlooked-for  piece  of 
generosity.  My  agent  told  him  that  these 
mortgages  had  become  very  valuable  and 
that  his  company  had  been  authorized  to 
secure  as  many  of  them  as  possible  and  to 
reduce  the  interest  on  them  to  four  per 
cent.  Satisfied  that  the  matter  was  a  busi 
ness  transaction,  Bud  left  for  the  Pines 
again,  and  I  had  reason  to  believe,  with  a 
lighter  heart. 

Lost  in  the  background  and  congratulat 
ing  myself  on  the  success  of  my  scheme,  I 
wandered  into  the  West.  The  face  of  Ellen 
was  ever  before  me.  Night  and  day,  the 
picture  of  her,  clad  in  a  simple  gingham 
frock,  her  sleeves  rolled  up,  and  her  hand 
pointing  in  the  direction  of  the  old  me- 

137 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

morial  bridge,  was  ever  in  my  mind.  Sev 
eral  times  I  tried  to  resume  my  writing, 
but  my  pen  seemed  to  drop  from  my  fin 
gers  or  else  my  mind  refused  to  respond  to 
my  will.  In  dejection  of  spirit  my  head 
would  fall  over  on  my  arms  and  I  would 
sit  for  hours  dreaming  of  the  Pines  and 
Miss  Ellen.  In  my  apathy  I  journeyed 
to  Japan,  and  for  a  while  life  seemed 
brighter  in  that  mosaic  looking  country, 
but  go  where  I  would  there  was  ever  recur 
ring  to  my  thoughts  the  picture  of  Miss 
Ellen,  and  my  heart  would  swell  and  tears 
rush  unbidden  to  my  eyes  as  I  remembered 
our  parting.  There  was  talk  of  war  be 
tween  my  country  and  Spain,  but  this  in 
terested  me  little;  I  seemed  to  have  lost 
my  sense  of  the  proportions  of  things.  Re 
solved  at  last  to  take  up  the  thread  of  my 
life  again  and  begin  anew,  I  started  for  the 
States.  Almost  the  first  thing  I  learned 

138 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

on  reaching  the  Pacific  slope  was  the  fact 
that  war  had  been  declared.  The  will  of 
an  indignant  people  had  swept  aside  poli 
tics  and  diplomacy  and  had  surged  with 
such  force  about  the  nation's  rulers  that  no 
one  dared  stand  in  its  path. 

The  martial  spirit  of  my  ancestors  had 
never  burned  within  me,  for  my  mind  had 
always  been  set  in  other  directions,  and  my 
pursuits  were  those  of  peace.  Never  hesi 
tating  for  a  moment,  however,  I  started 
across  the  continent.  By  telegraph  and  let 
ters  I  collected  my  scattered  influences  and, 
backed  by  my  delegation  in  Congress, 
asked  the  Governor  of  my  State  for  a  com 
mission.  It  was  secured  without  much 
trouble,  and  I  was  mustered  in  the  service 
as  a  first  lieutenant  of  volunteers  in  one  of 
the  regiments  from  Massachusetts. 


139 


IX. 

THEN  began  the  weary  weeks — and 
months,  it  seemed  to  some  of  us — of  wait 
ing.  The  excitement  of  enlisting  and  drill 
ing  the  men,  organizing  the  companies,  and 
getting  the  recruits  uniformed  acted  on  me 
like  a  tonic.  I  ceased  to  brood  over  my 
disappointment,  and  while  my  love  for  Miss 
Ellen  was  as  great  as  ever,  yet  I  felt  that 
I  had  regained  my  manhood,  and  the  war 
spirit,  once  aroused  in  me,  drove  me  like 
a  master.  The  day  for  quitting  the  State 
was  a  sad  one  for  many,  but  it  was  not  so 
for  me.  My  heart  bounded  with  joy  when 
the  order  for  our  movement  was  read  at 
Headquarters.  Of  all  the  officers  I  think 
I  was  the  only  one  whose  departure  was 
not  blessed  with  the  tears  of  mother,  sister, 
or  sweetheart.  My  father,  now  old  and 
feeble,  came  to  see  me,  and  his  eyes  became 

140 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

wet  as  he  beheld  me  for  the  first  time  in 
my  uniform  and  folded  me  in  his  arms.  My 
mother  had  long  been  dead — in  fact,  I 
could  scarcely  remember  her  at  all.  Before 
saying  good-by  to  my  father  I  gave  him  a 
letter  and  made  him  promise  that  should 
anything  happen  to  me  he  would  send  it 
to  the  address  on  the  envelope. 

He  looked  at  me  sadly  for  a  moment  and 
said,— 

"  Does  she  live  in  the  South,  Howard, 
and  is  that  why  you  have  stayed  away  so 
long?  " 

I  told  him  yes,  and  turned  away  my  head 
that  he  might  not  see  what  it  had  cost  me 
to  speak  of  her.  He  laid  his  hand  gently 
on  my  shoulder  and  said  softly,  I  thought 
sadly, — 

*  We  Palmers  have  never  been  lucky 
there,  my  son,"  and  I  thought  I  understood 
many  little  things  in  his  life  and  knew 

141 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

then  why  he  never  had  anything  but  what 
was  kind  to  say  of  that  southern  country 
when  he  heard  it  under  discussion.  I 
grasped  his  hand  and  held  it  for  a  moment. 

"  May  God  protect  you  and  bring  you 
safe  to  me  again,"  was  all  he  said,  and  left 
me. 

Our  regiment  was  only  ordered  to  Camp 
Meade,  but  it  was  a  start.  The  days  there 
were  dreary  ones,  and  I  shall  never  forget 
the  shout  our  boys  put  up  when  the  order 
which  turned  our  faces  to  Camp  Thomas, 
at  Chickamauga,  was  read  to  them.  It  set 
our  blood  on  fire,  and  I  cannot  repress  my 
feelings  of  State  pride  even  now  when  I 
recall  the  happy  faces  of  those  Bay  State 
fellows  as  they  prepared  to  shoulder  their 
muskets  and  start  for  the  south.  A  ma 
jority  of  the  regiment  wanted  to  be  bri 
gaded  with  other  regiments  from  Massa 
chusetts,  but  with  wisdom  and  foresight  the 

142 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

Chief  Executive  commanded  that  the 
troops  from  the  North  should  be  brigaded 
with  those  from  the  South  and  West.  It 
was  a  wise  policy  that  threw  the  men  from 
Michigan  with  those  from  Texas  and  those 
from  California  with  those  from  Maine 
and  Vermont,  and  the  men  from  Massa 
chusetts  with  the  honest  fellows  from  Geor 
gia.  The  spirit  of  friendship  which  had 
been  growing  for  over  thirty  years  was  to 
be  cemented  by  an  alliance  against  a  com 
mon  enemy.  This  was  how  we  found  our 
selves  in  the  same  brigade  with  a  Georgia 
regiment  and  with  another  from  Kentucky. 
We  mingled  with  one  another  from  the 
first  on  friendly  terms,  we  shared  one 
anothers'  rations  and  nursed  one  anothers' 
sick.  I  met  every  Georgian  with  an  out 
stretched  hand,  for  I  felt  somehow  that 
they  had  claims  on  me  which  the  others  did 
not  possess.  The  individual  was  lost  in 

143 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

that  great,  crowded  camp,  and  those  with 
whom  I  talked  of  the  Turpins  did  not  seem 
to  know  them.  But  I  was  destined  to  hear 
news  of  my  friends  much  sooner  than  I 
thought. 

I  had  been  sent  to  Division  Headquar 
ters  one  day  with  a  message  from  my  Col 
onel.  As  I  stepped  under  the  awning  of 
the  tent  I  saw  an  officer  in  a  major's  uni 
form  sitting  at  a  table  reading  some  re 
ports.  The  face  was  partially  in  shadow, 
but  I  saw  at  once  that  it  was  Bud. 

How  much  he  knew  I  did  not  know.  I 
was  eager  to  learn.  He  saw  me  before  I 
spoke,  and  not  waiting,  as  I  had  done,  he 
leaped  from  the  table,  scattering  the  con 
tents  over  the  floor,  and  rushed  to  me  with 
arms  outstretched.  Impulsively  he  threw 
one  arm  around  my  neck  and  with  the  other 
grasped  my  hand.  He  saw  how  deep  my 
feeling  was  and  did  not  speak  at  once. 

144 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

"  Bud,"  I  asked  finally,  "  how  are  all  at 
the  Pines? "  It  was  the  question  which 
was  most  natural  to  my  lips,  for  I  had  been 
hungering,  yet  dreading,  to  hear  news  of 
them. 

"  About  the  same.  Nothing  ever  changes 
there,"  he  said. 

£  Your  father  and  mother? "  I  asked. 

"  Both  are  well,  thank  God!  " 

"  And  Miss  Ellen?  "  I  ventured. 

For  a  moment  his  face  clouded  when  he 
told  me  she  was  not  like  what  she  used  to 
be.  Then  suddenly,  as  if  some  idea  had 
shot  across  his  mind  for  the  first  time,  he 
dropped  my  hand  and,  looking  me  squarely 
in  the  face,  said: 

"  She  has  never  been  the  same  since  you 
were  there."  He  seemed  suddenly  to 
stiffen  with  dignity  as  he  added:  "Pal 
mer,  if  I  thought  your  visit  there  had 
wrought  this  change,  Heaven  only  knows 

145 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

what  I  would  do.  Before  taking  my  hand 
again  answer  me  honestly,  Palmer :  did  you 
trifle  with  my  little  sister  when  you  were 
with  us  at  the  Pines?" 

"  Before  God  I  did  not,"  I  cried.  "  She 
rejected  my  love,  and  that  is  why  I  left 
so  suddenly.  I  will  tell  you  all  about  it, 
Bud,  as  I  wanted  to  do  before  I  left,"  I 
said. 

"  I  believe  you,  Palmer,"  he  said,  lay 
ing  his  hand  on  my  shoulder  again.  "  But 
keep  your  secret,  whatever  it  may  be,  for 
it  is  hers  also  and  you  have  no  right  to  be 
tray  it." 

I  grasped  his  hand  again  and  stood  look 
ing  out  into  the  dusty  camp  street  and  over 
the  hills  in  the  distance. 

"  Who  is  with  them? "  I  asked  presently. 

"  My  younger  brother,  little  Brent.  He 
is  keeping  the  family  alive  while  I  am  do 
ing  what  I  can  to  keep  alive  its  reputation," 
he  said  with  an  attempt  at  humor  that  cut 

140 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

me  like  a  knife.  "  You  may  not  know  how 
we  feel  about  this  sort  of  thing  down  here," 
he  added,  "  but  to  us  it  is  as  dear  as  life 
itself." 

He  then  told  me  that  it  was  Miss  Ellen 
who  had  urged  him  to  go  to  the  front  and 
who  had  given  him  the  strength  to  leave 
the  Pines.  From  his  Colonel  I  learned  af 
terwards  that  he  had  enlisted  as  a  private, 
but  was  soon  given  a  commission  for  an  ex 
cellent  record,  and  he  owed  his  present 
place  to  his  ability  to  handle  men  and  not 
to  political  influences. 

After  that  first  meeting  we  saw  each 
other  daily,  and  when  not  on  duty  together 
we  would  light  our  pipes  and  wander 
through  the  dusty  and  fever-stricken 
streets,  smoke,  and  talk  of  home,  but  never 
did  we  speak  of  Ellen,  though  she  was  con 
stantly  in  my  thoughts,  and  I  believe  in  her 
brother's  also. 

Disease  had  broken  out  in  camp  and  ty- 

147 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

phoid  raged  with  deadly  effect  during  that 
long,  cruel  summer.  One  evening  I  went 
to  bed  feverish  and  not  feeling  myself  at 
all.  The  day  had  been  one  of  horror  in 
the  camp,  and  despatches  were  flying  be 
tween  Headquarters  and  the  War  Depart 
ment.  The  evening  shades  brought  no  re 
lief  to  the  tired  soldiers.  No  one  seemed 
to  be  asleep,  and  the  men  were  stretched 
outside  their  dog  tents.  The  ground  was 
dry  and  hot,  and  the  moon  hung  in  the 
heavens  like  a  great  ball  of  fire.  Just  as 
the  midnight  hour  was  called  I  heard  some 
one  in  the  direction  of  the  Kentucky  regi 
ment,  that  lay  across  the  road  from  us,  be 
gin  to  whistle  "  The  Old  Kentucky  Home." 
The  notes  fell  sweet  and  clear  across  the 
tented  field.  Before  he  had  finished  a  bar 
someone  took  up  the  tune  and  whistled  a 
second.  One  after  another  joined  in  the 
melody,  and  finally  there  was  hardly  a  man 
in  the  regiment,  so  it  seemed  to  me,  who  was 

148 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

not  whistling.  It  died  away  as  suddenly 
as  it  had  been  inspired,  and  I  think  the 
camp  slept  with  sweeter  rest  for  having 
heard  the  serenade.  I  fell  into  a  fitful  sleep 
and  only  waked  to  partial  consciousness 
when  reveille  was  sounded. 

I  made  an  effort  to  rise,  but  fell  back, 
too  weak  to  move  again.  The  surgeon 
came  in  shortly  after  that  and  took  my  tem 
perature.  It  was  with  a  sickening  sense  of 
humiliation  that  I  heard  him  say  that  it  was 
a  bad  case  of  fever.  Before  I  could  be 
moved  Bud  came  in,  and  I  learned  after 
wards  that  he  feared  I  would  be  taken 
down.  I  turned  my  eyes  to  him  in  mute 
appeal.  He  touched  my  hand  and  I  drew 
him  near  me. 

"  If  I  should  die,  Bud,  will  you  tell  Miss 
Ellen  that  I  have  always  loved  her  and 
that  my  last  thoughts  were  of  her?  "  I  said 
in  a  half  whisper. 

He  pressed  my  hand  for  an  answer  and 

149 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

placed  his  other  on  my  fevered  temple.  I 
heard  him  ask  the  doctor  to  let  him  have 
charge  of  this  patient.  "  His  life  is  dearer 
than  my  own,"  he  said.  I  saw  the  surgeon 
nod  his  head  and  heard  him  add  that  it 
would  take  great  nursing  to  pull  me 
through. 

It  was  the  last  thing  I  remember  for 
many  a  day.  I  heard  afterwards  how  he 
nursed  me ;  how  he  slept  by  my  cot  at  night 
and  sat  by  it  all  day.  Afterwards  he  told 
me  that  I  talked  only  of  the  Pines  in  my 
delirium,  and  for  the  first  time  he  had 
learned  that  it  was  I  who  had  taken  up  the 
mortgage  and  reduced  the  interest.  The 
day  came  when  the  surgeons  despaired  of 
my  life,  and  then  it  was  that  he  telegraphed 
his  sister.  I  have  that  faded  bit  of  paper 
on  which  he  wrote  the  message  framed  and 
hanging  over  my  desk  and  underneath  it 
her  answer. 

150 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

"  Lieutenant  Palmer  lying  at  point  of 
death.  Your  name  incessantly  on  his  lips. 
Don't  come  if  you  think  best,  but  it  might 
save  his  life,"  was  what  he  sent. 

The  answer  was  even  shorter.  It  read 
simply: 

"  Keep  him  alive  until  I  reach  there." 

They  told  me  that  her  nursing  saved  my 
life.  One  touch  from  her  hand  and  my  de 
lirium  would  subside,  and  though  I  lay  un 
conscious  for  days  she  took  little  rest,  and 
when  she  would  lay  down  it  was  Bud  who 
would  take  her  place  at  my  side. 

One  morning  just  after  orders  came  for 
my  regiment  to  start  for  Cuba  my  eyes 
opened  to  the  world  and  my  senses  re 
turned.  Bud  was  by  my  side.  I  knew  then 
that  Miss  Ellen  had  been  there,  for  the  in 
fluence  of  her  presence  was  with  me  still. 

"Where  is  she?  "I  asked. 

"  Getting  a  little  needed  rest,"  he  an- 

151 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

swered.  "  The  crisis  was  passed  last  night 
and  she  knows  you  are  saved  to  her." 

The  big,  strong  fellow  could  stand  it  no 
longer.  He  knelt  by  my  bed  and,  hold 
ing  my  hand,  buried  his  face  in  the  cover 
ing.  I  knew  that  he  was  weeping  for  very 
joy  for  his  sister.  I  turned  over  wearily 
and  laid  my  hand  on  his  head. 

"  Bud,"  I  whispered,  "  has  she  for 
given?  " 

"  Yes,  Howard,"  she  said.  "  She  has 
told  you  so  herself  many  a  time  in  the  long 
watches  of  the  night." 

I  lapsed  into  unconsciousness  again,  and 
when  I  awoke  Miss  Ellen  was  by  my  side. 
She  it  was  who  told  me  that  my  regiment 
was  going  and  held  my  hand  in  sympathy, 
for  she  knew  how  it  would  hurt  me  to  be 
left  behind.  She  read  me  the  President's 
noble  words  of  praise  for  the  men  who  had 
answered  to  the  call  for  troops,  and  draw- 

152 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

ing  from  her  pocket  a  little  slip  of  paper 
read  me  what  the  Executive  had  to  say  of 
those  who  had  fallen  ill  with  fever  and  who 
had  served  their  country  only  in  the  camp. 
It  was  only  a  short  message  from  our 
President  in  answer  to  an  invitation  to  come 
to  Chickamauga,  but  it  cheered  many  a 
poor  fellow  who,  as  I,  lay  stricken  with  the 
fever  and  who  was  forced  to  see  his  com 
rades  march  away  to  duty  at  the  front. 
It  was  the  message  just  as  it  came  and  as 
she  read  it  her  eyes  filled  with  tears : 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  WASHINGTON. 
"Major-General  commandmg  Camp  Thomas, 
Chickamauga. 

"  Replying  to  your  invitation,  I  beg  to  say 
that  it  would  give  me  great  pleasure  to  show  by 
a  personal  visit  to  Chickamauga  Park  my  high 
regard  for  the  forty  thousand  troops  of  your 
command  who  so  patriotically  responded  to  the 
call  for  volunteers  and  who  have  been  for  up- 
153 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

wards  of  two  months  making  ready  for  any 
service  and  sacrifice  the  country  might  require. 
My  duties,  however,  will  not  admit  of  absence 
from  Washington  at  this  time.  The  highest 
tribute  that  can  be  paid  to  the  soldier  is  to  say 
that  he  performed  his  full  duty.  The  field  of 
duty  is  determined  by  his  government,  and 
wherever  that  chances  to  be  is  the  place  of  honor. 
All  have  helped  in  the  great  cause,  whether  with 
fever  in  camp  or  in  battle,  and  when  peace 
comes  all  will  be  alike  entitled  to  the  nation's 
gratitide. 

"  WILLIAM  McKiNLEY." 


After  that  she  talked  to  me  of  the  Pines, 
and  then  it  was  she  told  me  she  had  never 
read  my  letters  to  her;  that  she  was  afraid 
she  might  forgive  me,  and  that  she  did  not 
want  to  do  that,  even  in  her  heart.  When 
I  was  strong  enough  to  sit  up  I  was  given 
a  leave,  and  it  was  Miss  Ellen  herself  who 
undertook  to  make  all  arrangements  for  my 

154 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE  SHIELD 

journey  to  the  Pines,  for  it  was  there  that 
I  wanted  to  go  to  recuperate.  Finally  the 
day  came  when  my  regiment  was  to  move. 
I  was  propped  up  with  pillows  that  I  might 
see  it  break  camp  and  march  away. 

"  Ellen,"  I  said  as  I  saw  the  last  com 
pany,  the  one  to  which  I  belonged,  fall  into 
fours,  "  but  for  you  I  could  not  stand  that," 
pointing  to  the  retreating  regiment. 

She  turned  to  me  and,  making  a  low 
courtesy,  as  she  had  done  that  April  night 

now  many  months  ago,  she  said,  smiling  all 
the  while  through  her  tears: 

'  You  were  not  made  for  a  soldier,  my 
Lord.  You  have  been  forced  to  lay  aside 
the  sword;  you  must  take  up  the  pen 
again." 

And  then  I  knew  for  the  first  time  that 
she  had  not  only  forgiven  me,  but  that  at 
last  she  had  understood. 


155 


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